I had my second interview - yikes

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Anglewannabe

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Well, I had my second interview. I believer I did well at first. I gave examples of how I had to adapt to what other people wanted and how some of my ideas are now departmental tools. They asked me to send my references. I was pleased. Then, they asked me to stay in the room. They wanted to see if the CFO would have a few minutes to meet with me. I though that was a good sign.

And then the CFO walked into the room and things went downhill:sad_yes:

The CFO started to ask questions about the business model of my current employer. I answered as best I could. To be honest, I always found it to be a confusing business model that makes to no sense. One of my current resentments is whenever I would ask my team lead questions about the business model her face would go blank and she would say ‘don’t worry about it’. I don’t think my team understands it at all and I have had to live with the fact that a lot of things don’t make sense and no one will explain it.

So, as I was telling the CFO about my role, she kept saying ‘That is what you do how does the company make money’ and any answer I gave she rolled her eyes and challenged it. She even used a mocking tone and said ‘do YOU think that is a good model’. To which I replied ‘It is what our customers want and I think my employer is trying to give in to their demands’. This went on for probably a good 10 minutes (that felt like hours). I was started to get hot under collar and did my best to give polite answers.

Then we talked about a few other things and she said to me ‘Well, the problem with you is you have no experience in this field and don’t know our softwares, we can only base our decision on personality’. All I could think was the last time the hiring manager told me she was not really concerned with experience. Then the CFO asked ‘Have you done any Excel testing’ to which I said ‘no but I would be more than happy to’.

We then walked to the door and stop at the display case and talked about the products. Then, she proceeded to talk about linked in and how she could not believe they actually had to post the job since none her employees had any contacts’ Well, since I have very few contacts, I felt bad but bit my tongue.

So, if it was just up to the first 2 people, I believe I have a good shot. However, if she has a lot of say in the matter, I really don’t think I managed to impress her at all. I did a good job at remaining polite, but I don’t I impressed her with my knowledge.

Arrgghhhhh !

Angie
 
Anglewannabe said:
Well, I had my second interview. I believer I did well at first. I gave examples of how I had to adapt to what other people wanted and how some of my ideas are now departmental tools. They asked me to send my references. I was pleased. Then, they asked me to stay in the room. They wanted to see if the CFO would have a few minutes to meet with me. I though that was a good sign.

And then the CFO walked into the room and things went downhill:sad_yes:

The CFO started to ask questions about the business model of my current employer. I answered as best I could. To be honest, I always found it to be a confusing business model that makes to no sense. One of my current resentments is whenever I would ask my team lead questions about the business model her face would go blank and she would say ‘don’t worry about it’. I don’t think my team understands it at all and I have had to live with the fact that a lot of things don’t make sense and no one will explain it.

So, as I was telling the CFO about my role, she kept saying ‘That is what you do how does the company make money’ and any answer I gave she rolled her eyes and challenged it. She even used a mocking tone and said ‘do YOU think that is a good model’. To which I replied ‘It is what our customers want and I think my employer is trying to give in to their demands’. This went on for probably a good 10 minutes (that felt like hours). I was started to get hot under collar and did my best to give polite answers.

Then we talked about a few other things and she said to me ‘Well, the problem with you is you have no experience in this field and don’t know our softwares, we can only base our decision on personality’. All I could think was the last time the hiring manager told me she was not really concerned with experience. Then the CFO asked ‘Have you done any Excel testing’ to which I said ‘no but I would be more than happy to’.

We then walked to the door and stop at the display case and talked about the products. Then, she proceeded to talk about linked in and how she could not believe they actually had to post the job since none her employees had any contacts’ Well, since I have very few contacts, I felt bad but bit my tongue.

So, if it was just up to the first 2 people, I believe I have a good shot. However, if she has a lot of say in the matter, I really don’t think I managed to impress her at all. I did a good job at remaining polite, but I don’t I impressed her with my knowledge.

Arrgghhhhh !

Angie
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Thanks for your update Angie!

I follow your career drama with more than casual interest.

I will pray that you have success in whatever God has in store for your employment.

This is almost exactly what happened to me in a recent interview.
 
Anglewannabe said:
Well, I had my second interview. I believer I did well at first. I gave examples of how I had to adapt to what other people wanted and how some of my ideas are now departmental tools. They asked me to send my references. I was pleased. Then, they asked me to stay in the room. They wanted to see if the CFO would have a few minutes to meet with me. I though that was a good sign.

And then the CFO walked into the room and things went downhill:sad_yes:

The CFO started to ask questions about the business model of my current employer. I answered as best I could. To be honest, I always found it to be a confusing business model that makes to no sense. One of my current resentments is whenever I would ask my team lead questions about the business model her face would go blank and she would say ‘don’t worry about it’. I don’t think my team understands it at all and I have had to live with the fact that a lot of things don’t make sense and no one will explain it.

So, as I was telling the CFO about my role, she kept saying ‘That is what you do how does the company make money’ and any answer I gave she rolled her eyes and challenged it. She even used a mocking tone and said ‘do YOU think that is a good model’. To which I replied ‘It is what our customers want and I think my employer is trying to give in to their demands’. This went on for probably a good 10 minutes (that felt like hours). I was started to get hot under collar and did my best to give polite answers.

Then we talked about a few other things and she said to me ‘Well, the problem with you is you have no experience in this field and don’t know our softwares, we can only base our decision on personality’. All I could think was the last time the hiring manager told me she was not really concerned with experience. Then the CFO asked ‘Have you done any Excel testing’ to which I said ‘no but I would be more than happy to’.

We then walked to the door and stop at the display case and talked about the products. Then, she proceeded to talk about linked in and how she could not believe they actually had to post the job since none her employees had any contacts’ Well, since I have very few contacts, I felt bad but bit my tongue.

So, if it was just up to the first 2 people, I believe I have a good shot. However, if she has a lot of say in the matter, I really don’t think I managed to impress her at all. I did a good job at remaining polite, but I don’t I impressed her with my knowledge.

Arrgghhhhh !

Angie
Click to expand...
In my experience on more interviews than I care to think about, all I can say is you never know what may have impressed the interviewer(s), or otherwise. It may be that the CFO was giving you a stress test, wanting to find out if you can keep calm in a stressful situation. IOW, she may actually have been probing your personality even though she made light of that aspect. So you just have to wait and see, and if you didn’t get the job, that too is for the best. Remember there is often a better and more compatible job for you just around the corner.
 
I agree with meltzerboy that the CFO was perhaps pressing you to see how you stood up under a bit of stress (CFOs, CEOs, COOs, etc can be a bit like that - it’s somewhat part of their job).

I also agree with others that the CFO sounds a bit nuts.

Either way, you can never really tell how you went. Good luck with it. Prayers for you and your career - whether it’s this job or another path.
 
1ke said:
The CFO sounds like a complete dink.
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yes, but I was not about to tell her that 😉 I strongly suspect if I get the job, I will not have too much contact with her. Or at least instead of her probing at my business model, I will get to probe at hers;)
 
Dacinom said:
When he asked you if YOU thought your company had a good model, she was putting you in an uncomfortable position. You had a choice whether or not to express that the company you work for is run by a bunch of idiots or to be polite.
.
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I am grateful I did not say anything bad about anyone. My only concern is if I could not make her understand, perhaps she is thinking I am not as knowledgeable as I need to be
 
Anglewannabe,

I don’t know how you did on the interview - all you can do is wait.

But your story reminded me of an interview I had out of college. I was invited back to a medium-sized company. They flew me in - and I was to talk to all the executives. I think I had about eight to ten half-hour interviews.

For the most part, the time in each half-hour segment flew by. The interviewer would ask questions. I asked them questions about what it was like to live in their city and how long they were at the company. I don’t usually have any trouble filling up time talking.

But, I got to one executive. I think he asked me two or three short questions, and then he gave bare answers to my questions. I couldn’t think of anything else to say to him. It felt so awkward - and the half hour interview was over in ten minutes.

At the end of the day - the HR person asked me how it went. I told him that I thought it went pretty well except I had difficulty with one person.

He then told me that everyone liked me, but there was one person who raved about me.

I kept going over and over in my mind who it was - and then he said it was that one man. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I almost felt like it was some kind of joke - and someone was going to pop out and tell me I was on Candid Camera.

I guess my moral is - You just never know what someone else is thinking.

I hope yours is just such a surprise.
 
Some possibilities:
  1. The big boss was being a jerk.
  2. The big boss wanted to see if you would be a jerk by joining in some trash-talk about your other employers.
  3. The big boss wanted to see if you would be a jerk by joining in some trash-talk about your customers.
  4. The big boss wanted to learn more (especially non-public information) about the competition i.e. your other employers. Also can be a jerk move.
  5. The big boss wanted to learn how you handle difficult people.
It may take time before you learn which one. The boss may not actually be a jerk. So we will still send some prayers and good wishes for the results.

In the meantime, let Weird Al Yankovic cheer you up. 🙂
 
The_Old_Maid said:
Some possibilities:
  1. The big boss was being a jerk.
  2. The big boss wanted to see if you would be a jerk by joining in some trash-talk about your other employers.
  3. The big boss wanted to see if you would be a jerk by joining in some trash-talk about your customers.
  4. The big boss wanted to learn more (especially non-public information) about the competition i.e. your other employers. Also can be a jerk move.
  5. The big boss wanted to learn how you handle difficult people.
It may take time before you learn which one. The boss may not actually be a jerk. So we will still send some prayers and good wishes for the results.

In the meantime, let Weird Al Yankovic cheer you up. 🙂
Click to expand...
First of all, the last time I heard the name ‘Weird Al’ I was a teenager and thought he was an old man. Turns out he is only 11 years older than me:eek:

So, I think you are on to something but some background information is required.

I live in Ontario Canada and here is the background of my employer. There is a Canadian widget factory that had some business in the US. They decided to sell off the US division. A multinational Widget factory bought it. It turns out that the rent in Canada is a LOT cheaper than the rent in New York city where the US head office is located. Therefor, they kept the US office in Canada.

The multinational company has a foreign name which I will call ‘foreign name’. I am sure in that language, it probably has a nice meaning, but the way ‘foreign name’ is pronounced is a very not nice word in English. Consequently, in our day to day affairs, we call ourselves ‘Widgets of Ontario’

So, at first she was reading my resume and asked what ‘widgets of Ontario’ does. The job I happened to interview for is in the same industry but a much smaller player. This company’s sales are probably 1% of ‘foreign names’ sales. So, as I started to tell her what I did, and she kept saying ‘But why in the US, what do you do in Ontario?’, so I had to explain to her that we were owned by ‘foreign name’. She said 'Really, such a big company, you should put ‘Foreign name’ on your resume. I politely said ‘people who are not in the widget industry probably have never heard of it and it would look bad to have that word on my resume’ She said ‘Oh, but if they google it, they would see you work for a Multi National company and you would look so much better’. I polite said ‘Oh you think so and wrote it on my resume’ but on the inside I was thinking ‘What employer has the time to google such a not nice word’

She was one of those people the second I started to answer her question and explain, would interrupt before I had time to finish. Half the time she would interrupt before I had 2 words out.

I do suspect there was perhaps fear on her part. The business model is a new fad. Like a lot of new fads, they seem ridiculous at first but catch on. If everyone else in the industry is doing business with that model, the smaller organizations will have to change their model as well if they want to compete. And it may be too costly for a smaller business.

I suspect it is either 1 or 4. I think she is one of those people who was lucky and has no sympathy for someone who is down on their luck. I also think she is one of those insecure people who gets her self esteem from her career status. I think she needs to know what other industries do so that she can look down her nose at them and feel better about herself. The social conversation turned to my father and she somehow needed to know about the company he worked for :rolleyes:

Even the way she told me she was shocked they had to post the job because no one in the office had contacts to approach, I kind of felt like she resented having to interview me or she was hinting I was not good enough.

But the reality is, I will need to let go and let God. I know I did my best and I know I did not say anything bad about my employer or customers.

Angie
 
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