A few weeks ago, a VP emailed me asking if I could come into the office for an interview the following week. After I happily agreed, he asked for the best number to reach me at. I gave it to him and said that I would see him the following week.
I walked into the office, and after telling the secretary my name, they inform me that this was supposed to be a phone interview with the VP. Strange. I met with the VP, and the first thing he said was, "... So I thought this was supposed to be a phone interview". I immediately apologize for the miscommunication, and I informed him that the email stated that I should swing by the office. He got a little irritated and said that he read through the email, and it was definitely supposed to be a phone interview. I apologized once again and we started the interview. I was completely rattled, and it definitely showed throughout the interview.
Here's what the email chain looks like
Hi X2, Thank you for reaching out to _____, what's your availability to come by our office next week for an interview? x/x/2018 works best for me.
Hi VP,
x/x/2018 works great at xx:xx P.M.
Hi X2,
Perfect, lets do xx:xx on x/x/2018. What's the easiest number to contact you at?
Hi VP,
You can contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx, See you on x/x/2018.
VP: Thanks.
Has anyone ever had something like this happen?
Stress test?
That would be nothing compared to the MD at Lehman who would ask his prospective interns/analysts to open up one of the windows in the room as the interview started. Unbeknownst to the candidate, the window was cemented shut. One intern panicked so badly after he was chewed out by said MD for his failure that he threw a chair through the window. Hustle was 10/10, but he still didn't get it.
^^Liar's Poker
edited original post to show email chain
Did he actually say, "come into the office," or did he just ask you to interview with him? Because if he said to come in for an interview, and asked for your number, I would assume the number was just to reach me for something around me coming in, like to confirm.
Who "stress tests" that way in reality, though? He even had his secretary in on it? That's a really hard sell. Maybe he suggested at interview and you took it to be in person, but he never specifically said for you to actually come in.
No, it wasn't. The original email states "come by the office." Never in my life have I seen or used that phrasing for a phone interview. And I routinely exchange numbers with people prior to physical meetings, in case someone's late, can't find me, etc.
I guarantee you the VP went back and checked his email chain, and now knows he was wrong. He'll either ding you to avoid having someone around who thinks he's an airhead, or recommend you out of guilt.
You don’t get to VP by admitting your mistakes.
You want awkward? This story happened to a good friend of mine. In the early 2000s, both of us were working in London, I was making markets in some random shit while he was punting credit correlation for a prop desk. One Thursday night I threw a party at my place, an old movie plus a lot of wine and a bunch of random guests. At some point my buddy discretely asked to borrow my spare bedroom. He was recently divorced and, as a result, was actively "playing the field". The target, in this particular case, was a college age lady, this was literally the first time I saw her.
In the morning, I left before the spare bedroom was vacated, so the rest of the story is "il a dit elle a dit". They woke up. Then she was all panicked that she has an interview to get to and promptly left.
My bud slowly got up (it was a US holiday so he was not expecting much action) and made his way to the office. At the office, he's met by someone from the flow credit desk, who said "we are interviewing this lady, she's a bit too quanty for us, but might be the right fit for you". You can probably guess the rest of the story.
PS. Yes, it was awkward. Yes, I still keep in touch with both of them :)