This happen to anyone? Sigh...

You walk out of an interview/Superday feeling that you nailed it and have the job, but then get rejected?

This happened to me on several occasions this year. I really bonded with the interviewer(s), and they were telling me what a great asset I would be to their team and the amount I could help out the other interns with my experience/knowledge in finance, and then I end up being placed on hold, and eventually dinged via telephone from HR a couple weeks later.

The recruiters always say, "You had positive feedback, but the candidates we interviewed were very strong and our class is going to be quite small this year."

I understand its competitive, and know I'm swinging for the fences coming from a total non-target at tough times in the market. But it strikes me as odd how off my perceptions can be.

 

For me, if I thought I absolutely nailed an interview and came out of the room feeling invincible, I usually did well.

But if I come out from an interview thinking I did kind of well and there's still a chance I will get in, I am usually dinged.

 

I think it makes it worse knowing that I have been placed on hold twice, not getting into either. Like I said, I think two things hurt me:

1) I did not have connections with either of the two offices I interviewed at.

2) Coming from a non-target, when I go up against someone who also gives a killer interview from an ivy, they are getting the job 9 times out of 10.

I could be wrong, but these are my assumptions.

 

If you did not have connections with the offices you interviewed with, it could be a disadvantage for the smaller satellite offices, I would imagine. I seem to get the impression that the Chicago/Houston offices of the BB are usually staffed with mid-western/southern kids.

Anyway, you can try again after B-school i guess, if nothing works out for now. Feel awesome, not sad.

 

It's difficult to say with S&T. I remember being cut off mid-sentence and asked to leave, although only 20 of the 30 minutes were used. I get called a few hours later and was offered a 2nd round (ended up getting the offer).

But with banking, I definitely agree that you will generally know how well you did. I've been wrong twice (once in my favor, once against), but for the most part you'll walk out not wondering too much. Although this recruiting season was especially difficult, with a strong resume and great interviewing skills, you'll continually get offers. At my school it was generally the same group of students that ended up getting offers. We had a girl here go 11/12 (and she got rejected by Wachovia, God knows why).

 

But generally when investment bankers interview people, we are most likely to put someone "on hold" more than anything else.

It's pretty much just a numbers game... and not a whole lot you can other than persist, improve and hang in there.

I will say that looking back on it, I used to always think I was way better than I actually was in interviews. There are some common weaknesses I see in people and definitely showed in me when I was recruiting (most common one is sounding too fake/too much like the Vault guide).

So be careful not to overestimate yourself either.

But bottom line is keep at it and don't give up and you'll get there.

 

One thing i have learned through this process is to be as humble and modest as possible during your interviews. I totally understand where you are coming from though. Every time, during the interview, the interviewer incessantly uses flattering remarks like excellent!, wow!, thats amazing! and that really places you where you shouldn't be. Somehow, the interviews where I thought I performed poorly, I actually ended up acing. So I guess it really depends on whats running through your interviewers mind at that point. I'm sure sometimes, when they continuously keep interviewing people, they might forget the first good one they met and remember the last average one they met.

 
godofsmallthings:
I'm sure sometimes, when they continuously keep interviewing people, they might forget the first good one they met and remember the last average one they met.
Funny you should mention this, as I went in one of the first time slots available. Ha.

In the end though, if they wanted to hire me, they would have, regardless of when I went.

 

CDN: it was actually her 2nd interview, so no offers had been issued; also, it was the beginning of the recruiting season, so for the most part we didn't even know where we'd be interviewing.

 

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