Last Thursday, I received an urgent email asking me to call the recruiter at the big online company - well it is one of the big search companies and it also owns this service. I duly called the recruiter who then proceeded to ask me to come in the next day for another round of interviews.
This was the last thing I expected and I simply wasn't prepared mentally for another round of interviews. I resisted and suggested that I could come in the next week, but the recruiter insisted that I come in the next day. I relented, and I was told that another recruiter would confirm the time later. Later that day, I received an email and learnt that I had been scheduled for two interviews - one at 8:30 a.m. in the morning and the other at 11 a.m. The recruiter helpfully added that I should feel free to leave after the first interview and come back later for the second. The blatant disregard for my own time was shocking. I told the recruiter that I could only attend the 11 a.m. interview and the 8:30 a.m. interview had to be rescheduled for a later date.
I went to bed - Thursday - agitated and irritated and that is not the best frame of mind to prepare for an interview the next day. When you are in such a mood, bad things happen.
My first interview was with a Pre-sales manager on Friday morning. He fired questions at me in rapid succession and took copious notes while I answered. I wonder if he even listened to what I was saying. I just could not connect with him and 10 minutes into it, I knew that I was screwing up badly. The nail in the coffin was my answer to the question - what makes you unique? I should have said that the diversity of my experience through a 10 year career makes me stand out from the crowd. But at that moment, I mumbed some inanity which left the interviewer distinctly unimpressed. Looking back, I think that was the tipping point.
Before the interview, I had agreed to come back at 5:30 p.m. for the second interview. I summoned the recruiter back after the first interview and told her that I had done badly and if she didn't want me to waste her time, I would not come back for the second interview later that day. I don't know if I did the right thing by doing this. Wife things that this was a stupid move on my part. Anyway the recruiter told me that they wanted me to come back at 5:30 p.m.
The second interview was much smoother. Unlike the rest of the folks, the second interviewer didn't keep to script, but instead picked up on some of my answers and asked followups making it more of a conversation than an answer and question session.
I left thinking that my chances hung in the balance. Deep down, I was confident that it would come through.
At 10:36 a.m. this morning, I received a call. It lasted all of 55 seconds. The voice at the other end was subdued. Listening to the tone, I knew that it was nothing but the harbinger of bad news. I was told that "the committee" had decided not to go forward. I asked if there was a particular reason. I was told that I lacked a skill that I had never advertised in my resume and that I had candidly admitted in earlier interviews wasn't a strength.
Why it had taken "the committee" to arrive at this decision after four rounds of interviews spread over two months intrigues me. Surely after the first round, it was apparent what my strenghts and weaknesses were. Why string me out for another three round of interviews?
I feel like I was pushed to the edge of the precipice and this morning, they just kicked me over the edge.
Wife says that there is always a silver lining in these things. I'll look for it in the days and weeks ahead.
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