I ask, because I feel like I just got back from the hardest job interview of my life. The third interview was by far the most difficult, for a number of reasons:
First, academic history was a big part of the interview. This made me nervous because it was my biggest weakness. People had said, “Employer’s don’t look that hard at grades” but that notion got blown out of the water this afternoon. I wanted to try to emphasize my strengths, in order to cover/balance out my weaknessess, but the interview wasn’t geared to give me that opportunity. So I spent a big part of it having to explain why I did mediocre in school, and how I want to go back to school to raise my GPA because I’m not some lazy git anymore even though the transcript might suggest that is the case.
Second, none of my existing work experience mattered. I felt disappointed that everything I have done, all the people I have helped doesn’t carry any weight- all they cared about was grades, grades, grades and it kind of kicked my sense of self-worth out from under me.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think it is a valuable experience. I don’t think I’m always going to get by in life avoiding discussions about my weak points (why I did poorly in some classes, etc) but boy was the interview a shocker. It almost felt like the VP was trying to get me to crack, by demonstrating how demanding and stressful this job can be. Make no mistake, I know how tough it can get, but this past year I have really dedicated myself to overcoming challenges. I feel that if I made it this far, than it is a good sign, and the harder they make it for me (in terms of role playing various situations) the better it will help me in the long run.
The most grueling overall were the academic interviews. Academic departments tend to be democratic about hiring, so you have to have interviews with everyone. Then on top of it you have to do a public presentation on your research that anyone can come to and sometimes a demonstration class, as well. And then they take you out to dinner, so you have to be on all evening as well. And the next day you do some more.
The worst one was after a year in a contract position which was going to be converted to tenure track. I basically had to interview for my own job, which I lost by a narrow margin to a more experienced, already-tenured woman who just wanted to be closer to her husband’s job. Fortunately, her leaving took her own department completely off guard and when one of my colleagues recommended me for her job, they snapped me up. That was definitely the easiest academic interview I ever had–they pretty much offered me the job on the spot.
Since then regular job interviews have seemed pretty tame. It’s usually a fairly good fit, by the time we get to that stage. The worst in recent times have been group interviews, where each person takes turns reading a pre-prepared question from their little list. The questions are often very contrived and annoying.
One thing I have definitely learned is that some people just don’t know how to conduct a useful interview to save their lives, and it sounds like you just met with one of them. It really showed up in the group interviews. There was always one person who had their little bone to pick and wouldn’t give up on it. And, like you say, it was usually some trivial aspect of the job, too.
I just thought of another thing. My husband recently went through a couple of tough rounds of interviews. One thing he would do if he felt something hadn’t gone as well as he’d hoped, was to bring up the topic in the thank you note he wrote to the interviewer. (I hope you do that.) How about something suggesting that you can be effective at this particular job precisely because you weren’t an ideal student and can share your newfound wisdom with the students and tutors?
One of the most challenging situations I ever faced in an interview was one of the interviewing managers (the “big boss”) having an epileptic seizure during the interview. The other manager seemed to take it in stride, so I tried to, also.
But as far as sheer gruelingness, the toughest was an internal interview. The hiring manager, who was in another state, made me schedule all of my own interviews with the selection panel at 3 different sites, figure out all of my own directions, etc. He was my 4th interview out of 7, and when I first came into his office he greeted me with “Oh, you’re not who I thought you were.”
I wasn’t able to stay at the hotel most convenient to HQ and he asked where I was staying. When I wasn’t staying at the place he’d expected, he looked at me like it was my fault the main hotel was full, like I had to be lying or something (the alternative hotel was not more expensive, probably cheaper). He asked how I liked the other place. I said it was OK, but mentioned I was disappointed not to get a nonsmoking room. He asked “Your clothes don’t all smell like smoke, do they?” I said “Gee, I hope not.”
That helped to make me feel better. It is really challenging to role play a position I haven’t been trained for- I have an idea of what they do, but they practice specific language with families/scripts/etc, so it is kind of frustrating when I got stopped for doing it ‘wrong’ and had to start over and give it a second try. Pretend you have a conversation like this at a job interview:
“Now we’re going to role play. Pretend that you are a watermelon, and that I’m a watermelon. The farmer is outside. What do you say to me?”
“Can you clarify? We’re talking watermelons?”
“yes”
"Ok, then I say, ‘run for you life, the Farmer is coming!’ "
“All right, I’m going to stop you right there. Did I say that watermelons had legs? Nooooo I didn’t! Let’s try this again”
While living in Tucson, I interviewed for my dream job - literature bibliographer - at a prestigous Ivy League with a book budget so lush I’d be able to buy ANYTHING I wanted. I was scheduled to fly into a town not too far away from the school at 6 pm, pick up a rental and go to my hotel. I was to be picked up at 6:30 for a breakfast meeting the next day.
There was bad weather somewhere… I ended up sitting on the runway in Tucson for 2.5 hours. Once I got to Chicago, I had to beg and plead my way onto a flight to New York - I even resorted to the, “But this is my dream job - snif, snif - and if I don’t get there for the interview - snif, snif… tears welling in eyes” trick. (It was kind of real at that point, though!) Once I got to New York, I was sent to the wrong terminal at LaGuardia and missed the puddle jumper that was a direct flight to the little town I needed to get to. A wonderful airline employee, not even from the same airline I’d been flying, helped me get onto a plane that would get me 2 hours away from my destination. He gave me vouchers for a taxi to get me the rest of the way, too. So, with that angel’s help, I arrived at my hotel at 2 am. I got up at 5:30, which, since I was flying from W to E felt more like 3:30.
I made it through that breakfast meeting to about 2:30 pm, and then the migraine hit. I remember nothing after that point, including meeting with the library dean and assistant deans and the final meeting with the search committee. I was taken to pick up my rental car, and somehow made it back to my hotel, where I discovered a water leak in my bathroom. (Turns out the local VA hospital was across the street, and a patient was staying at the hotel who had a need to leave the water in his tub running all the time.) Finally, I slept the migraine off.
I got the job.
Turns out it wasn’t my dream job, but I did learn a lot about myself while there.
When I first moved to CA, I went through a series of interviews. 2 of them made it to the 3rd interview stage. I kept waiting for John Cleese to burst in the door and scream, “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition”. It was torture. They wanted to know everything I’d ever done, personally and professionally. I thought I did well, but I never heard from them again.
The other one was worse. 3rd interview, went on for hours. It went well, I met with 4 different people from the department head on up to the Co. President. And this was a sales job. They told me they looked forward to working with me in the future. And when I checked my mail when I got home. There was a letter in the mail box telling me they’d decided to pursue another candidate. They’d mailed it after my 2nd interview 2 days before. That was a kick in the crotch
IQ Test …what? Well, okay, whatever. Kicked it in the ass.
Meet with my would-be boss and his boss. Yikes.
Go over every part of my resume in great detail. And I mean every part.
Do the usual interview thing.
Get …homework? Yep. They wanted to make sure I had what it takes, so they gave me homework that I had to complete and fax back.
I was offered the job, but I didn’t take it.
Well, in grad school, I did some research in the electrical engineering department but my background was in statistics.
In EE, I kind of knew just what I needed to to get by but most of the application was stats work.
Anyway, I interviewed at a place that was doing something like my EE work. This one guy basically gave me an oral exam and some of it was stuff that an EE 101 student would know that I never learned. I didn’t even know some of the terminology. It was embarassing for me and the guy interviewing me. I was really almost tempted to say, “we both know this isn’t the fit. Why don’t I walk out of here right now and save ourselves the time and trouble.”
Instead, I continued to interview for hours, went out to eat with 3 or 4 of them. Worst day. Of course I didn’t get the job.
My present job, I got “sabotage interviewed” on the phone one day. One guy called up and was like, “can I ask some questions about your stats background?” and was having me spout formulas and equations of certain things.
Then, I got 3 written tests DURING the actual interview.
