Bungling The Job Interview
And working your way to recovery
I’ve been out of work for about 485 days. I guess you could say looking for a job is my job. If there were a degree in job hunting, I would almost have my doctorate.
You would think I would be getting better at interviews, but a recent experience reminded me that each is different, and sometimes you become myopic. These are strangers, and you may miss their cues. Or they may not give them. That doesn’t stop them from making judgments, which is the point, after all.
It’s vital to debrief. If you get feedback, it certainly makes it simpler, but even if you don’t, go back and analyze yourself. You can learn a lot to use going forward.
It was my third interview with this company. I already had two phone interviews, both with company executives. They went well. This interview was to be a systems demo. The company sells a product that mines health claims data for large self-funded insurance plans.
The position I was interviewing for was part client manager and part data analyst. That combination is an excellent fit for my skill set and interests, so I was excited about the position.
The interview was over Zoom, as is common these days. It was a demo of their system. I thought it was to make sure I had the technical skills…
