Did I screw my chances?
Hello Everyone,
I've had my last 2 interviews with A T Kearney (out of a total of 5) last week. The 4th one was with a principal, very cool guy with whom I we build rapport early and I got a feel that I did very well in that interview.
The last interview was with the MD and we were discussing about "Which company would I like to work with and what would I change about their strategy".
I believe that I held my ground with my opinions, but also admitted when I was wrong. The main problem though was that I could not understand the MD's english (he had a german accent) and I was constantly telling him, out of lack of better words, that "I'm sorry but I didn't understood the question". I did that for about 3-4 times in a 15 min interview and I know wonder if that busted my chances.
One week has passed and I haven't yet received anything from them.
What do you guys think? Have I busted it?
The interview was for an Internship position in Eastern Europe.
Thank you
I wouldn't say you've busted it. There are a lot of factors to consider. The main two would be 1) content (your ideas, analysis etc) and 2) presentation (the way you presented your content and the way you carried yourself). Of course you need a balance between the two. In other words, you can be a genius, but if you come off as a complete arrogant prick and you put off everyone around you.. then.. well, you wont do very well at all at consulting interviews.
It seems like you did pretty well in the content section, the presentation section is really what you're worried about. You didn't describe how the MD responded to you. Did the guy seem pissed or annoyed that you weren't understanding him?
I know the waiting for a decision can be frustrating and you can't help agonizing over every little detail, playing it over and over again, but sit tight. Either way, there's very little you can do about it now. These things are so hard to predict/rationalize. Good luck though!
1 week later usually sounds like game over.
Question is why weren't you able to understand his accent? Going for a Eastern European office, it sounds like this kind of thing should be within expectations. I'm sure his international co-workers and clients have better luck understanding him.
A week with no response is a touch-and-go, not usually a good sign. It's not so much that the MD will override the recommendations of all other interviews, but it's more that you may have also over-estimated how well you did.
It's easy to think you did well because you had a "friendly" interview, but backroom discussions tend to go over a lot of detail and it's hard to say what worked against you (if it did).
Move on. Never know, maybe they'll call in a few days.
Sorry to be harsh but if I was that MD I would find that pretty annoying. You will meet a lot of people with strong accents in Eastern Europe so understanding them is almost a job requirement. You never know though so good luck! Keep us posted.
Hey guys,
Thanks for all the support so far. Just knowing that you answered, apart from the answers themselves,kept my morale afloat (these days were really tough with that; "You don't know how much you really want something until you've lost it/you're about to lose it").
Anyways, I've emailed the firm and they said that: "our process is delayed due to the long list of qualified candidates that need to run the same recruiting process and dynamic business environment.We will turn with a feedback as soon as possible."
The interesting bit is that indeed, their recruiting process is going kinda slow really is kind of slow since I applied in June and waited for 4 weeks between interview 3 and 4. However, I'm wondering if this is true or I'm just being waitlisted, in case they don't find enough people that they consider as fitting.
What do you guys think?
Now to answer your questions that will clarify my interview:
Again, thank you for your input guys. It really means a lot.
From my experience, everything at ATK takes a bit longer. When I applied there, I already had a job offer from a different firm before they even scheduled my first interview...
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