There is no shame in failing interviews. There is more to gain from the lessons

For the past few months, I have been going for interviews after interviews as I was trying to find another job because I was not happy with the role that I am in. I was going for interviews at a rate of almost once a week. It was indeed tiring because you have to spend a lot of effort in preparing and getting ready for the interview.

Despite all the preparations, I noticed that I was always not able to get over the technical parts of the interview. One reason is that I have been applying to more senior roles which also mean that the interviews are tougher and more rigorous. Though I have been working for more than 5 years, I only had less than 5 years of experience in the area of tech as I am a career switcher.

How I was getting the interviews?

So far I have been getting interviews in 2 different ways. One was applying through the job portal and the other was being head hunted by recruiters. My personal favourite job portal is Indeed.com as I have noticed that the job listings are better and the response rate tends to be a lot higher as compared to other job portals.

LinkedIn is a great portal to be connected with recruiters. If you have a very well-written profile, you tend to stand out in the eyes of the recruiters. Make sure you are write in detail of what you do for your previous job scopes and highlight the relevant experiences. A thing to take note is that sometimes they push roles to you that you may not fancy as it is also part of their job to close deals with the hiring companies.

Long arduous journey

In this current job landscape, every company wants a candidate to be a great fit and a value to them. Hence, they emphasize a lot on technical, past experience and your thought process of handling situations. In typical, these are my interview process.

1. Phone screening from HR/recruiter. Normally, they would ask you simple questions about your past experiences, career aspirations and more importantly your expectation compensation. At times, I can be out of their budget and the process just stops here. There were times that I was sharing about my experience for about an hour, only to be discontinued when they realized they are not able to even match my current compensation.
2. Technical tests/Interview. This normally comes in the initial stages so that the companies can easily filter out those that are technically not equipped for the role. It can come in the form of online tests or technical questions coming from the interviewers. It can be quite tough and you are also under pressured by time and complexity of the questions. I can honestly say that I did failed a lot of these kind of interviews because I am not well-equipped to answer those questions. I didn’t study much of these in university as I came from an accounting background. In a good light, it was a way to access my gaps which I can improve on.
3. Interview with team members/leads. In this stage, you will get to meet the members of the team. This is actually a good time to ask more questions about the scope and role. Take the chance to feel whether you are able to work with the team members. More often at this stage I do feel blessed that I did not get selected for the next round. You can feel the vibes based on the questions they asked you. It can also be very exhausting at this stage when they include another round of technical questions to go along. Once you managed to pass this stage, you are likely to be able to join the company.
4. Interview with the head of department. Once you passed the team leads round, it is very likely you are getting an offer. This stage is commonly a formality to meet and greet with the head of department. The head may also assess you on the fit for the role. Unless you did something very wrong, it is normally a very relaxed stage at this point of time.

Based on the rounds I had, it is really a tiring journey as most companies are conducting the same format to find their suitable candidates. There are some rounds which I find quite unnecessary because it just takes up more resources and time from both the interviewers as well as the interviewees.

Bad experience with some of the hiring processes

Not all companies are great at their hiring processes, including the big ones. Sometimes they do leave you with a bad taste because it felt like they are interrogating you rather than interviewing you.

There are some companies that ghost me once they find that I am not suitable candidate. Taking for an example of an experience that I had, the HR booked slots with me all the way to head of department level. During one of the stages, I believed that the team members felt that I am not technically good enough for the role. Rather than sending me a rejection email that they would not move on with my candidacy, they cancelled all of my interviews and then did not get back to me nor respond whether there will be a next stage. I guess that left quite a bad taste as an interviewee.

It could be red flags that you have avoided

For those companies that you did not get hired for, it could be blessing in disguise because maybe you have found out that their working culture ain’t going to be any good. Some red flags picked out could be like they are expecting you to work long hours or must be able to perform under extreme pressure. It could be a hint in telling you that we work long hours as a culture. The reason I feel that it may be bad because long hours does not always equate to better productivity but it will definitely destroy your work life balance.

Lessons to be learnt

Every interview is an experience on its own. Each failure represents a gap that you can work on and improve. I noticed that my SQL skills actually became better after each technical round and it may prepare you for the next dream job. There is no feel ashamed because a company rejects you. It represents that you have a grown a little step higher for your next move.

Keep striving everyone!