Did Well In 1st Round Interview But Didn't Get Invited to Super Day. Why?
I recently had a first round interview that I thought I absolutely shined in. The interviewer and I had very similar backgrounds and immediately hit it off while I was going through "my story". I felt very comfortable after that. After going through 1-2 easy behaviorals, we went into technicals which made up the bulk of the interview. I demolished these technicals. And they were hard technicals but I got every single one. After that the interviewer opened it up for questions and we had what I thought was a pretty great conversation (kept it pretty professional, mostly talked about future of the firm, how pandemic has affected business, how they've seen the firm change over time, etc). Interviewer said he enjoyed speaking with me and that I did a great job in the interview (he sounded pretty genuine when he said that too). I thanked him for his time and hung up, expecting to be invited for a superday. That same day, I got notified that I will not be moving forward.
Why do you think I was not able to move on? I have another first round coming up and I really want to fix anything that might be getting in my way. A few reasons I can think of are: I was not professional enough (After the interviewer and I realized we had similar backgrounds I felt really at ease, maybe too much so. I laughed a couple times during the interview, but he did as well, and I don't think I used a very serious tone), one of my behavioral answers may have been off (behaviorals are subjective so you never know when you might rub someone the wrong way with an answer, but given that this was a technical 30min screening, I don't think the behaviorals had much weight), for the first technical question, the first answer I gave was wrong (I made a silly mistake) but I quickly fixed it and gave the correct answer with adequate explanation.
Can anyone think of other reasons as to why I was not chosen to continue on to the superday? Would appreciate any opinions as to what may have held me back as I definitely want to improve for the next time around.
I had a similar experience. Had an awesome first-round interview at a BB. Knew one of my interviewers from before and got every single technical question correct. Made a great connection (I had sent a thank-you email, to which the interviewer sent a very nice reply) and thought that the superday was in my bag. Didn't get invited.
A lot of times you may be out of luck. Maybe they had 3 superday slots and 2 target kids were selected and one kid knew a super high up MD or something and so he got pulled in. Many times things aren't in our hand.
On the flip side, I had another interview at a BB where I made a silly technical mistake and thought that I didn't get the superday but got invited to the superday so luck really plays a big part is what I have realised.
thanks for asking - have gotten superdays from times I bombed a question, and not gotten one where I made a silly error. it sucks when you have a good rapport wiht the interviewer bc you feel like you already know them.
It really is just a game of luck sometimes. Even after you get the interview. There's only so much you can do to prepare and it sounds like you knew your stuff and prepared well for the interview, just got unlucky. Maybe a few kids got their technicals all correct and your tiny tiny mistake on the first question was what made the difference (probably not the case but who knows). Keep going, don't give up. You are working hard and you are closer to an offer than you think.
I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. Sometimes it just comes down to who is speaking for you in the room. This guy probably said "the kid did great, new his stuff, was personable and seemed very interested." But, if that same thing was said about two other candidates by people that outrank your guy, or there are two spots are one is already for Chad and the other comes down to you and Kadeisha... tough luck man. It sometimes is just a numbers game, keep at it and one will go your way.
My main question is why didn't you really connect with the interviewer.
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