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Inexplicable phone interview

Corax

Corax

Luke 5:16
I had a phone interview this afternoon for a job I really want. It's not most people's dream job, but it is mine, at this point.

I've never had a phone interview before, but prepared in the way I do for any interview. Plenty of background reading, swotting up on current trends, terminology and techniques. Understanding the organisational objectives etc.

And it went massively, embarassingly badly. None of the types of question I'd prepared for came up. I got stupidly nervous and couldn't keep my voice level. My mind went blank, so much so that I went completely silent at one point and had to apologise. I gave crap answers, and repeated myself, repeatedly. I gave crap answers, and repeated myself, repeatedly. Afterwards I was mortified. I already work for the organisation and know the people that interviewed me, and the prospect of looking them in the face again made me want to die. Nonetheless, I wrote it off and put it down as a learning experience, and went home to drink beer.

And then one of them phoned and told me I'd done really well and they'd like to see me face to face.

So I'm now very :), but also utterly :confused:.

I suppose you can never tell just how crap the other candidates are going to be.
 
It sounds like your expectations of yourself were supernaturally high, whereas they thought you were fine and could do the job, and it's always worth remembering that other people are usually too busy panicking about whether they are coming over as an embarassing arse, or too rhino-hided to notice much about other people. especially on the phone, when they can't see you sweating or blushing.

well done anyway.
 
Corax said:
I had a phone interview this afternoon for a job I really want. It's not most people's dream job, but it is mine, at this point.

I've never had a phone interview before, but prepared in the way I do for any interview. Plenty of background reading, swotting up on current trends, terminology and techniques. Understanding the organisational objectives etc.

And it went massively, embarassingly badly. None of the types of question I'd prepared for came up. I got stupidly nervous and couldn't keep my voice level. My mind went blank, so much so that I went completely silent at one point and had to apologise. I gave crap answers, and repeated myself, repeatedly. I gave crap answers, and repeated myself, repeatedly. Afterwards I was mortified. I already work for the organisation and know the people that interviewed me, and the prospect of looking them in the face again made me want to die. Nonetheless, I wrote it off and put it down as a learning experience, and went home to drink beer.

And then one of them phoned and told me I'd done really well and they'd like to see me face to face.

So I'm now very :), but also utterly :confused:.

I suppose you can never tell just how crap the other candidates are going to be.
Click to expand...

No, they want to see you for the lols.

You are the entertainment candidate.


I know, because I'm one of the interviewers.

Honest.
















((((Corax))))
 
If it went this badly and you still got through, maybe you should try staging a lock-in dirty protest in the office canteen?

Or summat :)

It can only be a good thing :)
 
I hate phone interviews - the last one went pretty badly. though it was good that they didn't see me making faces when i struggled with their questions.
 
chainsaw cat said:
No, they want to see you for the lols.
Click to expand...

:D

Seeing as I already work for the organisation, I may write to the Chief Exec complaining about low standards in the recruitment process.



Anyone know if there are any urbanites with a Lean/Six Sigma Black Belt or anything?


ETA: Several Tyskie's later I'm still so perplexed that I'm unable to feel very celebratory! It's just odd. They were narrowing down 18 to 4. For the life of me I cannot imagine 15 people giving a worse performance than I did.

Oh well, fuck it eh, s'all good. :)
 
An interview on the phone? I've never heard of that before. It sounds horrendous! Maybe they were just checking your obedience levels by telling you to do it and seeing if you said 'What? No way!' ... ?
 
Seriously, you may not have been as bad as you think! A decent interviewer will allow for nerves on the part of the candidates, and you may have come up with the answers they were seeking, even if you did hesitate and apologise.

Congratulations on getting through to the next stage, and stop fretting about the wrong things! (and start fretting about preparing for the face-to-face interview!).

But take a bit of credit - your preparation worked, so that you knew what to say! :)
 
Corax said:
ETA: Several Tyskie's later I'm still so perplexed that I'm unable to feel very celebratory! It's just odd. They were narrowing down 18 to 4. For the life of me I cannot imagine 15 people giving a worse performance than I did.

Oh well, fuck it eh, s'all good. :)
Click to expand...
I hope it doesn't involve maths, as there were 14 people who did worse than you.
 
You repeated yourself repeatedly eh? ;) You thought that that was a problem, but at the other end of the line they must have thought that you were being positive and insistent, showing that you know what you are talking about.

Even the silence might have come across as being thoughtful rather than having a pat rehearsed answer.

You got through that difficult stage, good luck with the face to face stage. :)
 
LOL! That has cheered me up. Congrats! I had a mediocre interview the other day so can only hope that the same thing happens to me. I repeated myself repeatedly too and went blank at some point.... fingers crossed.
and well done!
 
Found out today that they want me to give a 10 minute presentation in a week's time.

10 minutes?

Fuck me, I'm terrified. Completely and utterly terrified. When I received the email I went cold. My legs got shaky. I felt physically sick.

The thing I'm most worried about? My nerves.

When I get nervous I get short of breath, my heart races, I come across like a complete fuckwit.

And I know this, so I take deep breaths, try to relax and so on. And that seems to make things worse.

I'm on the verge of pulling out. I won't. I'm too proud for that. But tbh I wish I would. 10 minutes FFS? I have sweet FA experience in giving presentations.

Fucking terrified. Thus drinking large amounts of beer right now.


ETA: May turn this into a new thread. Any advice would be welcome, and the thread title ain't gonna cut it.
 
do it an butt secks and stalking - you'll be fine!
;)


Seriously, that does sound terrifying but I'm sure you'll be ok, look into relaxation techniques to do before hand, know your stuff and take your time.

Good Luck
:)
 
I had a job interview on a satphone crouch in the desert in Yemen. Thought I'd properly bombed it but got the job. I also almost gave up on my HGV test before I got out the driving test center......And passed

No Idea how. Life is strange.

Having been on the other side of telephone interviews I can assure you some of the interviewers are also shitting it as they are also being judged by the other interviewers, normally someone higher up the greasy pole

Nice to have a positive story on a Monday cheers :-)
 
Corax said:
Found out today that they want me to give a 10 minute presentation in a week's time.

10 minutes?

Fuck me, I'm terrified. Completely and utterly terrified. When I received the email I went cold. My legs got shaky. I felt physically sick.

The thing I'm most worried about? My nerves.

When I get nervous I get short of breath, my heart races, I come across like a complete fuckwit.

And I know this, so I take deep breaths, try to relax and so on. And that seems to make things worse.

I'm on the verge of pulling out. I won't. I'm too proud for that. But tbh I wish I would. 10 minutes FFS? I have sweet FA experience in giving presentations.

Fucking terrified. Thus drinking large amounts of beer right now.


ETA: May turn this into a new thread. Any advice would be welcome, and the thread title ain't gonna cut it.
Click to expand...

Was gonna post some advice, but I'm waaaaay too late. Congrats!

I had one interview that went so badly I drove a hundred miles straight home again instead of checking out the area for accommodation as I had planned. Not only did I get the job, but it was the evil bitch woman from hell on the panel who had made them give it to me. You never can tell.
 
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