Job interviews can be stressful. You don’t know what they’re going to ask you, and you don’t know how you’ll respond. Typically, you want to say all the right things to get hired, but what if you didn’t, on purpose?
What if you went to the interview as your real self and told the employer what you would and wouldn’t stand for? Instagram comedian Johnathan Harris — or @dreadheaded_jon03 — decided to do just that and put a twist on job interviews in a skit, but this is in the case of employers who are in desperate need of workers.
This skit is part nine of an ongoing series of interviews for a job that desperately needs employees. Between the facial expressions and the passion behind his answers, you can’t help but laugh.
This skit works because it’s everything you wish you could say in real life and still get the job. Just think how great it would be to set your standard, your boundaries, your hours, and even your pay on your terms. Life would be lovely!
The faux manager starts the interview hypothetically:
Manager: “If you had a coworker that acted as your manager, what would you say to them?”
Harris: “I’mma manage to get them out my face … I’mma barely listen to the manager as is.”
Manager: “Are you OK with getting raises every six years?”
Harris: “Every six years? I mean every six months, every year. I’m tryna elevate. Come on now.”
Manager: “Can you do the workload for two people? “
Harris: “No ma’am, don’t ever ask me to do that, you gon’ barely get anything outta me, talkin’ bout a extra workload. Good luck gettin’ what you gon’ get outta me.”
Manager: “So no earbuds, no headphones, we don’t allow those.”
Harris: “Oh, I’mma have my headphones in now, I gotta listen to my music. Might be on the phone sometimes, you never know.”
The audacity of Harris is hilarious. His ability to be 100 percent honest while setting his demands is what makes the skit so alluring. The demands that jobs present can be unrealistic at times, and Harris isn’t going for it.
Jobs can sometimes have a dealbreaker with all of the demands that they have for a position. The upsetting part is that the money never matches all of the things that the role requires.
On a realistic note, jobs are available. Last month, ZipRecruiter economist Julia Pollak told CNBC, “In all, job openings and monthly quits are, respectively, 40 percent and 15 percent higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, while monthly layoffs are 21 percent lower, pointing to a ‘robust and resilient labor market.’”
It appears potential workers do have the upper hand when it comes to obtaining a job. Due to so many jobs being available, workers have leverage in negotiations, within good reason, of course.
What are some things you’ve wanted to say in job interviews that you didn’t? Did Harris pinpoint some of the things you would have said?