Bad interview. Misunderstood knwldge,sklls & abilities contact superior?
November 11, 2020 1:34 PM Subscribe
Hello,
I had a bad interview. The Interviewer misunderstood my knowledge,skills & abilities. Today I found out that the Sr. Talent Management Analyst - Global Talent Management. has a PhD in I/O psychology, my field. Should I reach out to this person in the future?
Yesterday I had a very strange interview for a position with a company that I have been very interested in working for for some time.
The Interviewer misunderstood my knowledge,skills & abilities. There is a person higher up in the company from my field of work psychology? Should I reach out? If so when?
Bad interview, ended it early not to waste our time. I have a master's in Industrial/organizational psychology. The interviewer had never heard of this field & I couldn't explain that I was more than qualified for the job.
Should I reach out to the Sr. Talent Management Analyst? If so after how long? Are there any suggestion about how to do it? Unfortunately, we have no common connections on LinkedIn to get an introduction from. She must have drifted away from the I/O psychology community. She also probably designed the position or job posting.
Let me be clear about this. I would wait a while to contact this person.
The last thing I would want is to make either this talent management analyst or the woman I interviewed with think that I'm going over anybody's head about a job that I was turned down for. That wouldn't get me anywhere pleasant. It would be an ultimate office politics disaster. The woman I would answer to would be upset with me without a doubt and we really didn't click at all anyway. It was the worst interview I have ever had and definitely not up to the standards that my field would recommend.
The first interview with the recruiter was awesome but this second one was not good at all.
The job I applied for would have been a good fit, but I don't think it would be a good fit working with her anyway.
Several of my collegues suggested that I was absolutely qualified and probably overqualified at that. She may not have been trained in proper interviewing technique and this wasn't her bag. I may have dodged a bullet on this position is our conclusion.
SHould I reach out in the near future?
Yesterday I had a very strange interview for a position with a company that I have been very interested in working for for some time.
The Interviewer misunderstood my knowledge,skills & abilities. There is a person higher up in the company from my field of work psychology? Should I reach out? If so when?
Bad interview, ended it early not to waste our time. I have a master's in Industrial/organizational psychology. The interviewer had never heard of this field & I couldn't explain that I was more than qualified for the job.
Should I reach out to the Sr. Talent Management Analyst? If so after how long? Are there any suggestion about how to do it? Unfortunately, we have no common connections on LinkedIn to get an introduction from. She must have drifted away from the I/O psychology community. She also probably designed the position or job posting.
Let me be clear about this. I would wait a while to contact this person.
The last thing I would want is to make either this talent management analyst or the woman I interviewed with think that I'm going over anybody's head about a job that I was turned down for. That wouldn't get me anywhere pleasant. It would be an ultimate office politics disaster. The woman I would answer to would be upset with me without a doubt and we really didn't click at all anyway. It was the worst interview I have ever had and definitely not up to the standards that my field would recommend.
The first interview with the recruiter was awesome but this second one was not good at all.
The job I applied for would have been a good fit, but I don't think it would be a good fit working with her anyway.
Several of my collegues suggested that I was absolutely qualified and probably overqualified at that. She may not have been trained in proper interviewing technique and this wasn't her bag. I may have dodged a bullet on this position is our conclusion.
SHould I reach out in the near future?
I don't see the purpose in reaching out to the person with a more similar background. It sounds like your time would be more productively spent practicing explanations of your qualifications to folks outside your area of expertise. I've had pretty much exactly this experience of having my qualifications misunderstood, and it stinks, but it did help me to understand how better to explain my background to people who didn't share it.
posted by tchemgrrl at 1:51 PM on November 11, 2020 [33 favorites]
posted by tchemgrrl at 1:51 PM on November 11, 2020 [33 favorites]
Unless you are trying to get the job again, I don't see any reason to reach out at all. Doesn't seem to be the case since you're describing going over the interviewer's head as "an ultimate office politics disaster" and you don't think you would be a good fit with the supervisor you'd have.
I guess you could reach out to this person in your field just generally to network with them and express some curiosity about their background and how it brought them to their current role, but not to try to get the job you already interviewed for.
Just take this as a lesson that in the future you may have to educate your interviewer on your skills and knowledge using layman's terms. For the next interview, maybe rehearse a quick elevator speech summarizing your training and how it can be applied in the workplace using language that is accessible to someone who has never studied or heard of your field. Never assume that the person who wrote the position's description will be interviewing you, or even seeing your resume, especially if it's a larger company.
posted by zdravo at 1:53 PM on November 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
I guess you could reach out to this person in your field just generally to network with them and express some curiosity about their background and how it brought them to their current role, but not to try to get the job you already interviewed for.
Just take this as a lesson that in the future you may have to educate your interviewer on your skills and knowledge using layman's terms. For the next interview, maybe rehearse a quick elevator speech summarizing your training and how it can be applied in the workplace using language that is accessible to someone who has never studied or heard of your field. Never assume that the person who wrote the position's description will be interviewing you, or even seeing your resume, especially if it's a larger company.
posted by zdravo at 1:53 PM on November 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
Response by poster: What are you hoping to achieve from reaching out?
Networking. Letting her know I'm out here for future opportunities.
posted by Che boludo! at 2:29 PM on November 11, 2020
Networking. Letting her know I'm out here for future opportunities.
posted by Che boludo! at 2:29 PM on November 11, 2020
Response by poster: I guess you could reach out to this person in your field just generally to network with them and express some curiosity about their background and how it brought them to their current role, but not to try to get the job you already interviewed for.
That has been a plan is asking for informational interviews and explaining my curiosity aboth their career. This is pretty common advice and recommended to find the jobs posted inside the company and not necessarily advertised publicly.
posted by Che boludo! at 2:31 PM on November 11, 2020
That has been a plan is asking for informational interviews and explaining my curiosity aboth their career. This is pretty common advice and recommended to find the jobs posted inside the company and not necessarily advertised publicly.
posted by Che boludo! at 2:31 PM on November 11, 2020
Yes, maybe but I wouldn't do it directly after this bad interview. I would let the dust settle first for you.
posted by plonkee at 2:44 PM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by plonkee at 2:44 PM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
I admit that I am a little lost with your question and updates, maybe I'm just having a day.
I would not let the fact that you don't have LinkedIn connections in common be a particular deterrent, unless that is a super-no in your field. You could personalize your invitation to connect with your interest in their career path given your common background but this sounds kind of... questionable if you aren't actually interested in a role similar to hers, but more to just get yourself on the radar for jobs that you think she has some input on. But I guess I'm not sure this is useful either way since this person does not sound like they are part of the hiring process.
Maybe wait until after the job listing has closed before reaching out, in order to prevent any misunderstandings on whether you are trying to get an additional "in" on that other role.
posted by sm1tten at 2:52 PM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
I would not let the fact that you don't have LinkedIn connections in common be a particular deterrent, unless that is a super-no in your field. You could personalize your invitation to connect with your interest in their career path given your common background but this sounds kind of... questionable if you aren't actually interested in a role similar to hers, but more to just get yourself on the radar for jobs that you think she has some input on. But I guess I'm not sure this is useful either way since this person does not sound like they are part of the hiring process.
Maybe wait until after the job listing has closed before reaching out, in order to prevent any misunderstandings on whether you are trying to get an additional "in" on that other role.
posted by sm1tten at 2:52 PM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I'm waiting for that job to close before I reach out. Dust settling is absolutely the plan.
The field is small and generally psychologists are pretty friendly to open up and talk. They are psychologists, they must like people, right?
I am just trying to get on the radar. She's a talent management analyist. Her work is highly related to HR. The job description is very well written. It seems safe to assume that she had a hand in writing it.
posted by Che boludo! at 3:16 PM on November 11, 2020
The field is small and generally psychologists are pretty friendly to open up and talk. They are psychologists, they must like people, right?
I am just trying to get on the radar. She's a talent management analyist. Her work is highly related to HR. The job description is very well written. It seems safe to assume that she had a hand in writing it.
posted by Che boludo! at 3:16 PM on November 11, 2020
Yes, you should reach out to people who work in companies that you are interested in working for or who have jobs you are interested in having to ask for informational meetings. Do keep in mind that you are probably not the only person asking for an informational meeting, so it helps if also have something to offer or are responding to something they wrote in a blog post/LinkedIn article. It shows you actually know something about that person.
Yes, you have to figure out how to explain to people who aren't in your field what you do and how it connects to any job/field you are interested in. You should be able to tell a story about your career journey and what has led you to applying for any role.
posted by brookeb at 3:27 PM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yes, you have to figure out how to explain to people who aren't in your field what you do and how it connects to any job/field you are interested in. You should be able to tell a story about your career journey and what has led you to applying for any role.
posted by brookeb at 3:27 PM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
The way you are talking about this interview and your assumptions about who wrote the job description is making me uncomfortable. As a candidate you need to be able to pitch your skills and career journey and pivot appropriately depending on your audience.
This: The interviewer had never heard of this field & I couldn't explain that I was more than qualified for the job.
Does not = someone who has "not been trained in proper interviewing technique". It's your job as the candidate to inform her! You say yourself that you couldn't explain it, and yet blame her for how poorly the interview went! You go further to assume that your interviewer, who would also be your supervisor (or who you "answer to"?), had no hand in writing the job description because it was well written. What is your assumption here, that only a woman with a PhD can write well?
You should tread very lightly here. The field is small. You have no idea how closely the women you refer to here work together. If someone on my team conducted an interview that went as poorly as you say this did, I would absolutely be hearing about it and you can guess who's side I would be on (hint: not the candidate's).
You should also ask the mods to anonymize this question because it was shockingly easy to Google the job title and field and come up with one of two women/companies this question could be about.
posted by stellaluna at 5:32 PM on November 11, 2020 [27 favorites]
This: The interviewer had never heard of this field & I couldn't explain that I was more than qualified for the job.
Does not = someone who has "not been trained in proper interviewing technique". It's your job as the candidate to inform her! You say yourself that you couldn't explain it, and yet blame her for how poorly the interview went! You go further to assume that your interviewer, who would also be your supervisor (or who you "answer to"?), had no hand in writing the job description because it was well written. What is your assumption here, that only a woman with a PhD can write well?
You should tread very lightly here. The field is small. You have no idea how closely the women you refer to here work together. If someone on my team conducted an interview that went as poorly as you say this did, I would absolutely be hearing about it and you can guess who's side I would be on (hint: not the candidate's).
You should also ask the mods to anonymize this question because it was shockingly easy to Google the job title and field and come up with one of two women/companies this question could be about.
posted by stellaluna at 5:32 PM on November 11, 2020 [27 favorites]
Bad interview, ended it early not to waste our time.
Did you leave the interview in a huff? Was the end dramatic at all? If so, I would probably not reach out, not for a good long while.
posted by bluedaisy at 7:05 PM on November 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
Did you leave the interview in a huff? Was the end dramatic at all? If so, I would probably not reach out, not for a good long while.
posted by bluedaisy at 7:05 PM on November 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm someone who has done a good deal of hiring / been involved in hiring processes for a variety of occupations. I have to say, I had a hard time understanding your question and had to read it over several times.
If you couldn't explain how your own expertise could be applied to the duties, responsibilities, goals, objectives, etc. of the position, that would be a big red flag for me as an interviewer. Really, that should not have been an obstacle in the least. The fact that it was a problem would've indicated to me that you don't have a good grasp of what the job entails, or what you are bringing to the table as a candidate.
I would also caution against making assumptions regarding the competence of your interviewers. It is an extremely common practice for interviews to be set up with stakeholders from different areas of business. I'm not saying that's exactly what happened here, but I myself work in a niche field, and have been interviewed on many occasions by people who had only a vague idea of what I do. It was up to me as a candidate to bridge those gaps and demonstrate how I could provide support with the specific business concerns that they would consider relevant to their work. Some companies actually employ this as a strategic practice to see how well a candidate is able to relate to and communicate with laypersons. Indeed, an analyst who can only convey insights to other analysts would be a poor asset to any business.
It also makes me uncomfortable that you have been regaling your colleagues with the tale of this terrible interviewer and inviting praise that you're probably overqualified and "dodged a bullet." It sounds like you've taken this very personally and are now carrying a chip on your shoulder. I'd certainly recommend against contacting anyone at this company until you no longer harbor these feelings of being jilted or unjustly misunderstood. I worry that it will come across inadvertently, and that will only work against your future chances.
posted by keep it under cover at 8:19 PM on November 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
If you couldn't explain how your own expertise could be applied to the duties, responsibilities, goals, objectives, etc. of the position, that would be a big red flag for me as an interviewer. Really, that should not have been an obstacle in the least. The fact that it was a problem would've indicated to me that you don't have a good grasp of what the job entails, or what you are bringing to the table as a candidate.
I would also caution against making assumptions regarding the competence of your interviewers. It is an extremely common practice for interviews to be set up with stakeholders from different areas of business. I'm not saying that's exactly what happened here, but I myself work in a niche field, and have been interviewed on many occasions by people who had only a vague idea of what I do. It was up to me as a candidate to bridge those gaps and demonstrate how I could provide support with the specific business concerns that they would consider relevant to their work. Some companies actually employ this as a strategic practice to see how well a candidate is able to relate to and communicate with laypersons. Indeed, an analyst who can only convey insights to other analysts would be a poor asset to any business.
It also makes me uncomfortable that you have been regaling your colleagues with the tale of this terrible interviewer and inviting praise that you're probably overqualified and "dodged a bullet." It sounds like you've taken this very personally and are now carrying a chip on your shoulder. I'd certainly recommend against contacting anyone at this company until you no longer harbor these feelings of being jilted or unjustly misunderstood. I worry that it will come across inadvertently, and that will only work against your future chances.
posted by keep it under cover at 8:19 PM on November 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
I'll say it since no one else has: You should make sure you are taking much more care in preparing for your interview than you did in writing this question. Your question title is almost unintelligible, your post is riddled with punctuation and spacing errors, and you didn't do a very good job explaining what you wanted help with, thus causing confusion on the part of some people who responded.
If you didn't realize this question is kind of a mess, it's quite possible that you are also not aware of how incoherently you are coming across in interviews. Take your time and review what you have written before posting it; take your time and organize your thoughts before responding to interview questions. Focus on clarity and don't assume the reader/interviewer can read your mind.
posted by Flock of Cynthiabirds at 9:32 PM on November 11, 2020 [19 favorites]
If you didn't realize this question is kind of a mess, it's quite possible that you are also not aware of how incoherently you are coming across in interviews. Take your time and review what you have written before posting it; take your time and organize your thoughts before responding to interview questions. Focus on clarity and don't assume the reader/interviewer can read your mind.
posted by Flock of Cynthiabirds at 9:32 PM on November 11, 2020 [19 favorites]
Also, why are you telling colleagues that you’re interviewing for another job? Especially when it’s obvious you’re not getting an offer. You’re putting your job at risk, and for what? Some validating words from people who could potentially blab about your interview to your leadership? These people have no power or influence to land you a new job. There is no upside to telling them any of this.
Please tread more carefully in the future. I would never bring up interviewing at another company in my place of work unless I had a competitive and enticing job offer IN HAND and I was planning on accepting it.
If you mean peers in your industry, not actual colleagues at the same company, STILL do not say anything to them. You never know who they might tell and how that news could get around.
posted by keep it under cover at 11:31 PM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Please tread more carefully in the future. I would never bring up interviewing at another company in my place of work unless I had a competitive and enticing job offer IN HAND and I was planning on accepting it.
If you mean peers in your industry, not actual colleagues at the same company, STILL do not say anything to them. You never know who they might tell and how that news could get around.
posted by keep it under cover at 11:31 PM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by socky_puppy at 1:42 PM on November 11, 2020