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Is this really how the corporate world works?

fourstringdrums

fourstringdrums

Decidedly Indecisive
Supporting Member
Oct 20, 2002
9,722
12,479
45
Massachusetts
#1
Just a bit of a rant here..

My girlfriend is currently finishing up her Masters in Accounting and her MBA. She had a job interview today that should have been hers very easily. She got the interview through an account temp agency. It started out as a phone interview and the interviewer was so impressed with her, she flat out asked her if she had any other prospects and scheduled an in-person interview on the phone. She said she was over-qualified for the position, but that wasn't a strike against her, and she hadn't met anyone with a better understanding of their company and what was needed from the position.

So she had her interview and all went well. She was interviewed by three people, and they were all incredibly receptive of her. She came home beaming and it was just a matter of time until the other interviews were finished and she found out if she got it. Not even two hours later the temp agency calls back and says that the third interviewer (human resources) felt that her answers in the interview "seemed scripted" even though she had no idea what they were going to ask, and all she displayed was knowledge of the company and of herself and what she could bring to the job. The temp agency felt that in light of that response, that basically they were passing on her.

This has me absolutely baffled that it came down to one person, and not even two hours after an otherwise flawless interview, she was passed over as if she didn't have enough education or experience. What kills me more is this was a temp to permanent position. If they hired her, they had a month to see if she was a fit for the job, so she's not even getting the chance. They didn't even wait to interview other people to see if she was the best out of those.

Is this really how it works? That you can be more than qualified and have 2/3rd's of the hiring staffing wanting you for the position, but it can take that last third to totally dash your hopes of ever getting the job? I know that being overqualified can harm you, but that wasn't the case here. It was simply the HR manager not liking how her responses came across.
 
#7
That's called life. My friend had 5 interviews with Apple, flown in from Chicago for all of them with some lasting 5 hours and multitudes of people asking involved questions and he still never knew his fate. He now works as a VP at a large tech Co., 2 interviews, one phone, one in person all in one week and hired the next. 3 weeks in to the job Apple called again for a 6th interview, he politely hung up.

For the interview at the job I currently hold, I met the guys at a bar, and after 6 or so beers they had me quote a complex operation on the spot. Turns out I've signed several mil+ deals on the back of bar tabs in rare form...so it was a good test.

There is no such thing as "the norm" in hiring or the corp marketplace.
 
#10
jmattbassplaya said:
What he's saying is that you found this situation strange or abnormal when it is, in fact, standard procedure.
Click to expand...

That's what I wasn't sure of. I have never been in the corporate world so I don't know. I got a job in high school, got a job right out of high school and did that until I was unable to work any more so I've never encountered it.
 
#11
Lets make this a little more comprehensive for you....LOL Each corporate entity has it's own hierarchy for hiring. Some businesses are 1 and done, some the hiring circus can go on for months and dozens of interviews. Each entity will approach it differently.

Examples; When I was hired by Intel in 87, I was brought to Phoenix where they were opening a new division, put into the Graduate program at ASU, Interned for 2 years and then hired in as a full time design team engineer. The headhunter came to Michigan to find me, and brought me out to them. When I left Intel and went to work for Belden Wire, I went through 4 levels of Interviews, and a final salary negotiation with the division bean counter and VP. 2 weeks later was informed they wished me to join the company. Just an example of how different the situation can be from 1 corporate entity to another.
 
#12
fourstringdrums said:
She said she was over-qualified for the position, but that wasn't a strike against her...
Click to expand...

This was the problem. Yes indeed, it was a strike. Companies are paranoid about hiring over-qualified candidates because they know that any better opportunity will leave them in the lurch. Either that, or there were non-discriminatory quotas to meet for interviewing, and your case was a check mark.

It's a real bugger for folks that are unemployed; they need the gig and the company needs the person, but they won't generally give a lower-end gig to an over-qualified person.
 
#13
Never ever ever believe someone who tells you that you're the favorite for the job or anything to that effect. I've been told that several times only to see the job go to someone else.

The bit about her answers seeming "scripted" may really have been someone's impression but is probably just BS to avoid giving the real reason - which, as others have said, may well be that someone's buddy applied or they didn't want somebody whose abilities would show up their own, or who knows what.
 
#14
I don't know if that's the "corporate world" per se or more of a symptom of jobs in general being in shorter supply these days.
Is it abnormal? Hard to say because it can vary quite a bit from company to company and even down to who's conducting the interview and/or who's making the decisions.
About the one thing that can be said is the fact that things are just a little more tough and more competitive these days..
 
#16
It happens.

I was once told at an interview that I'd got the job I was after, and they'd be writing to me. I never heard a thing from this company at all until about 6 months later, when the same job was advertised again. I applied out of sheer curiosity, and a couple of days later they called me at home at 10PM, asking me to come along for another interview the following morning. I went, and discovered they'd given the job originally promised to me to another guy as an internal promotion, presumably to give him this chance as a reward for service, which seemed fine to me. But it hadn't worked out. So, I got this second shot at it and was offered the job again. I left the premises with assurances that they would be confirming my appointment in writing very shortly.

I never once heard from them after that. This was a multinational manufacturing company with several hundred employees at their factory here in the UK.
 
#17
Relic said:
I don't know if that's the "corporate world" per se or more of a symptom of jobs in general being in shorter supply these days.
Is it abnormal? Hard to say because it can vary quite a bit from company to company and even down to who's conducting the interview and/or who's making the decisions.
About the one thing that can be said is the fact that things are just a little more tough and more competitive these days..
Click to expand...

+1

There isn't really anything inherently "corporate world" about this.

I have applied for several government and non-corporate jobs in my time, and have run into this kind of mysterious behavior, too.
 
#18
Agreed, it's not just the corporate world. For my first teaching post, I was offered a job in March to start next academic session - but was told that they couldn't tell me what the salary would be until closer to the start date in September. I remember expressing some surprise that they would expect me to accept a job offer when I wasn't going to be aware of what my salary would be until several months later. Lol.

Luckily, my new boss managed to sort things out with the HR drones.
 
#19
Sounds familiar:

I talked with a recruiter that told me that I looked like a top pick for a job I really wanted - two days later he calls and said they found a better qualified candidate

The company never even interviewed me!

I think what happened is this:

The company was using the recruiter and posting the job on their own. If they hired me they would have to pay the recruiter - If they go with the candidate that responded directly then they save that money

I'm done using recruiters/agencies

Your GF sounds like a smart lady, she will do fine if she just keeps moving ahead with a positive mental outlook

(ps: I put a pickup cover on the 50's P - she looks gorgeous!)
 

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