Had a couple of interviews, need advice

[mikecan]

A company posted an ad in early February and called me in shortly after that for an interview. Two weeks later I saw the ad posted again. Two days after that, I received a call to see if I was still interested and that they would be in touch. About 2 weeks later I received an email to set up a 2nd interview. I had the interview on a Tuesday which lasted 2 hours and on Thursday, I received a call from HR that while they liked me, etc they felt they found someone a better fit. The next day, on Friday, I see the ad posted again.

Why bother contacting me for a 2nd interview, then lead me to believe they found someone better when they hadn't. I feel like I was played coming in the 2nd time. Why bother to even have me come in.

Any thoughts or am I over reacting?

Thanks

 

[Papa bear]

Overreacting. HR doesn't know the real reason behind manager's decisions half the time. There are 200 different scenarios that could have plate out for that particular position. Chalk it up to interview experience.

 

[Meadbh]

I had two interviews where I walked in and from the body language was able to tell that they had already made up their minds to hire someone else. In one case I had flown to another city at their expense and had been kept waiting all day. I had another situation where I applied for a job and didn't hear a thing for four months. Then I got a call from HR. They had decided that the pickings from the first ad were slim (that included me) so they advertised again. Having been on the other side, I can attest to the fact that there may be all sorts of scenarios playing out in the organization. Don't take it personally. Also, never assume that getting interviewed means you have a good chance of getting the job. It's never in the bag until you have it in writing.

 

[truenorth418]

It's a sign of the times. Employers have a lot of power in this economy since there are so many people out of work. Given how hard it is to fire someone and how expensive it could be, companies are being extra careful. In many cases they really don't know what they want. There can also be a big disconnect between what the hiring manager wants and who the HR person brings in.

It's really crazy when they tell you the position is "soooo important" and "must be filled right away." And then they take months to make a decision even though there are plenty of qualified candidates.

 

[mikecan]

The first interview was with 2 people, one who would be my boss and her boss. The higher boss is who called me to see if I was still interested. The 2nd interview was with HR, then two managers from other departments and finally with 2 people who would be my co workers.

 

[John Galt III]

Here's an interesting example: I was trying to get an interview at a local company. I had already met the hiring manager offsite. I had left my name and phone number, but the manager was always unavailable, call later, etc. One day I just drove over to the company, unannounced, and asked to fill out an appl. Secy said the manager was unavailable. I filled it out right there, gave it to the secy and left. Apparently the secy sent my appl straight off to HR, bypassing the local mgr. Three days later my phone rang, and it was HR, off in another state, offering to fly me out for an interview!! Went, got hired, showed up at hiring manger's office a few days later and started working.

 

[Options]

A company posted an ad in early February and called me in shortly after that for an interview. Two weeks later I saw the ad posted again. Two days after that, I received a call to see if I was still interested and that they would be in touch. About 2 weeks later I received an email to set up a 2nd interview. I had the interview on a Tuesday which lasted 2 hours and on Thursday, I received a call from HR that while they liked me, etc they felt they found someone a better fit. The next day, on Friday, I see the ad posted again.

Why bother contacting me for a 2nd interview, then lead me to believe they found someone better when they hadn't. I feel like I was played coming in the 2nd time. Why bother to even have me come in.

Any thoughts or am I over reacting?

Thanks

Not at all. This is why:

A land of low-wage jobs: For every job that pays above the low-wage threshold of $15 an hour you have 7 job-seekers. 51.4 million low-wage jobs in U.S.

 

[racy]

Hi Mike,
Welcome to megacorp! Don't try to figure it out. Hang in there!

 

[truenorth418]

Here's an interesting example: I was trying to get an interview at a local company. I had already met the hiring manager offsite. I had left my name and phone number, but the manager was always unavailable, call later, etc. One day I just drove over to the company, unannounced, and asked to fill out an appl. Secy said the manager was unavailable. I filled it out right there, gave it to the secy and left. Apparently the secy sent my appl straight off to HR, bypassing the local mgr. Three days later my phone rang, and it was HR, off in another state, offering to fly me out for an interview!! Went, got hired, showed up at hiring manger's office a few days later and started working.

Goes to show you never know what's going on inside the company.

Sometimes it doesn't work out so well.

Once a company contacted me via LinkedIn. This led to a phone interview with their HR consultant, a video conference with the HR in-house recruiter, another video conference with a different HR person, an online assignment to complete a case study and PowerPoint presentation (live and time limited), a face to face interview with the original HR recruiter, and then, lastly, given an assignment to prepare and conduct a 2 hour work session in front of the 2 hiring managers. And there was at least one "touch base" phone call between each one of these meetings and video conferences.

So...after they contacted me unsolicited based on my experience posted online, 6 different rounds of interviews, 2 case study presentations, and multiple phone calls, I was rejected on the basis that I "didn't have the right qualifications".

I am so glad I don't ever need to look for another job again.

 

[Dimsumkid]

I worked in the HR area for a long time. You may have been used to meet some fed. requirement for the company. Say a mgr needs to hire someone and already has an internal person they want to hire. They can't just give them the job outright and need to interview outside candidates. So they call in "X" people to put through the process with no intention of hiring any of them. It's a big waste of your time, but they pass whatever guidelines they need to satisfy to claim this internal person was the best they could get.

 

[Dcharles]

I agree that the HR world is sometimes disconnected with the actual hiring supervisor needs. with all the dumb laws I acted to protect minorities, vets or whomever, there is always a way around the job posting process. Even here in North Dakota where High school kids can make $15 per hour flipping burgers because there are not enough workers, the vanes are being played between mega corps and HR departments. Sometimes, the HR department is the most clueless department in mega corp.

 

[RunningBum]

Another possibility is that they offered the job to someone else, who declined. All of the things mentioned here are possible, but you probably didn't get played just to be played. You may have been used to fulfill an interview requirement as someone else mentioned, or used in a power struggle in management there.