I had a phone interview with a marketing reasearch located 3 states away (4 hrs car, 3 hrs train). The employee desrcibed the position to me, it seemed like a good fit, and i was pretty confident that i had a good chance at the job. so i purchased an amtrak ticket and rode 3 hrs down to DC only to find that they were interviewing for a senior-level position. I just graduated with my masters and only have under 1 year of experience working market research. Why the hell would they interview me for a senior position? The dialouge part of the interview went great. I was giving great responses and asking questions. BUT there was the assessment part and i completely bombed because i couldn't do half of the tasks. What a waste of my time and money. Why didn't the first interviewer (over the phone) see that even though i had my master's i was CLEARLY not senior-level? I guess i should've researched it too, but i didn't realize i had to be at a certain level with these statistical programs
2007-08-01 03:23:04 · 6 answers · asked by jerseegal 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Careers & Employment ➔ Other - Careers & Employment
It sounds like you both dropped the ball. Each of you should have asked more questions. Now you'll know better what to ask in the next interview.
2007-08-01 03:28:34 · answer #1 · answered by Don 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bah... I've always taken jobs where I was in over my head... and succeeded@! Like my last job was as the executive director of a housing authority, running the whole show! I had never done any sort of property management, never been a manager, etc etc. But I learned what the job entailed and I did my homework. A LOT of homework. And I found any connections I could between what I had done in previous jobs and school to what I would be doing, and stretched it as far as I could without being disingenuous.
You need to take the initiative and find out what the job entails way ahead of time... or even just ask whoever it is that's contacted you over the phone. You need a detailed job description before you ever walk into an interview- that should be a rule. You should also be prepared to argue why your knowledge, skills and abilities match up perfectly with the detailed job description, and you should be familiar with the company and with where you would be on the org chart. Those are the bare-bones basics of interview prepping.
If something in the job description is CLEARLY beyond the scope of your abilities, obviously you need to back out... like I would never take a job that requires hardcore IT skills or an accounting degree, because I have no formal background in those things and you can't learn IT or accounting overnight. But if it's something you can do some homework on, pull out a textbook and learn the basics, and BS your way through, then do it! And you'll come across like someone who's ready for the job. Then when you do take the job, you need to have the wherewithall to follow up and spend your evenings learning what it is that you need to do so that you do succeed.
If I can go from an internship to being the CEO of a small non-profit, you can walk into a senior-level research job and find a way to pull it off! You just need to be willing to make that leap of faith and know what's within your ability.
2007-08-01 10:43:24 · answer #2 · answered by Firstd1mension 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is a shame! The phone interviewer did not do a very good job at screening you, and I agree with you on that. You probably should have asked a few more questions about the level of experience that they were looking for. But, in the long run, it was good overall interview experience and you will know what to look out for the next time. It's too bad that it was a waste of your money. Best of luck finding the right fit!!
2007-08-01 10:32:55 · answer #3 · answered by makeloans2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sorry to hear about the inconvience, now you know what to ask the next time, at least you now know what to expect when you are ready for senior level
2007-08-04 18:31:11 · answer #4 · answered by cheri h 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, perhaps they were trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. programs can be taught. they may not want to hire some old fart who already knows everything; they may want fresh brains.
call back and follow up.
2007-08-01 10:30:41 · answer #5 · answered by cassidy.hill 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sorry. but... it sounds like you got some good experience. now you kinda know what that kinda job entails. good luck though.
2007-08-01 10:29:40 · answer #6 · answered by star83_4mc 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋