During an interview, how can you tell that the manager is threatened by your experience?

Question

I just don't understand. I had a phone interview w/ the plant manager and the maintenance manager. The interview went great. They both knew that I worked on the older version machines, (they had more modern updated version). They both knew it would take 6-12months to learn the ins/outs of all the machine. (any mechanic knows that). They flew me down to there company. My recruiter said they were extremely impressed with me and wanted me down to meet them asap.

Unfortunately, the plant manager was not there. So I interview with the maintenance mechanic and his lead mechanic. I spent 5 hours there. Taking tests, etc. The HR Director wanted me there longer so we could go over important things like benefits, proposal.

Anyway, my tests score was sky high. The HR said I interview very well. The maintenance manager supposedly said he felt it would take me 6-12 months to learn a machine. Any mechanic knows it takes this long to fully understand how it runs, etc. I just don't get it.

Answer 1

I don't get it either. Is this a question? Are you saying you didn't get the job? Did they tell you why? Was it that someone else was BETTER?

Before you start the attitude of "he was threatened by my experience" get the facts. THen stop living on past interviews and move on to the next one. You are not paid for interviewing.

There was a time in my life that I thought i had become a professional interviewer (though unpaid for this profession). There were many times that I came home feeling I had finally got THE JOB and would wait for the phone to ring. 10 Years of that crap. I heard all the excuses. "The other person was better." "We really had to choose between the two of you and well..." and the really good one "We decided to go in a different direction." (WTF is that supposed to mean?)

All in all what I really learned is that you can't depend on your own version of what happened. After you left, the boss might have brought in his nephew and said they needed to hire him. (Yeah, no experience, no training...just hire him) But if you constantly try to figure it out, you'll go crazy. Pat yourself on the back, write a good Thank You Letter to all the people you met at the company. Tell them how much you not only enjoyed being there, but how much you learned and (especially) how much you would really like the opportunity to work with such a company. Mail the letters. Move on to the next interview.