I facilitated an interview at my place of employment today for a AmeriCorps 12 month volunteer. (It is full time work with a small living stipend and an education award upon completion – and completely free labor for the company paid for by the government. It's an internship-like job usually for people who just graduated college looking for resume fillers or those doing a career change that want to serve the nonprofit community.)
Using a script given to me by my employer, we asked, “What do you want to get out of this position and how does this position factor into your long-teem career goals?” A perfectly reasonable question for a temporary position meant for folks looking for career change and personal development.
What the interviewee answered doesn't really matter. They did well and we're offering them the position.
The kicker is what an eavesdropping admin (who wasn't invited to the Zoom interview, but happened to be in the room) said after.
“It's a red flag to an employer when an interviewee says what they want to get from the company, not what they can give to the company. They should be telling you what they'll do for you, not what they want you to do for them. Means they won't be good at self-directing and leech off of company resources.”
And that attitude, my dear admin whose opinion wasn't asked for, is why we have so much turnover in this organization. We're not here for you to use and abuse – especially those of us that are just glorified full time volunteers.