Unique Interview Screw-Up. Need Help. If no help, Come for the Laughs. It is cringe-worthy tragedy.

First, I had to create a throwaway for this. Why? Because to commit the fuckery I did during my interview today is irrecoverable. If you have advice, I would appreciate some. If not, read on for the laughs. I had to run to the store for an MD. On the way back, I missed a block and turned on a 3-block length building stretch with closed-off alleyways. Ended up realizing I was semi-lost when I had less than ten minutes to get back for my interview. I sprinted back to the office and dropped off the MD's supplies and excused myself. I went to go to the stairs to find a private meeting room in the shared space on a different floor. 2 minutes to my interview. As I am trying to leave the staircase, the door swings open from the other side and knocked a freezing cold iced nitro brew coffee all over my pants/nuts. The initial response was adrenaline and numbness. I had to sit in the private room and be ready for my call anyway. As soon as I took a deep breath, the call came in.

All of a sudden, my balls felt frozen and my teeth began to chatter and my lungs closed up causing a shortness of breath. Basically, I was having frozen shock and half a panic-attack at the same time. Simultaneously, an intern from my bank came crashing into the room as I was trying to articulate the formula for FCFF and I looked like a total asshat because I had not given myself a chance to breathe or shake the jitters and tried to power through the call instead. Eventually, I knew I was so fucked that I just asked for a moment to collect myself, took a deep breath, and started comfortably talking, joking, and trading stories. The rest of the call went great, even when I cracked a joke about being a fool at the beginning. I sent a thank you to the two guys that interviewed me afterward and figured I would leave it at that.

To make matters worse, both of the guys were both badass and successful athletes before going into banking so it would have been a great fit and sick team to work on. Now I feel I probably got myself dinged. I left them laughing at the end, and one of them mentioned what the case would be if there is a second round interview and that if one were extended I would have to come correct on it- so that leaves me feeling hopeful for some reason.

Have any of you ever recovered from a botched interview? How? What advice do you have for me in this spot?

 

Interesting story... I don't think that you made too big of a mistake, and if you had them both laughing at the end of the interview I am sure that is not the worst mistake anyone has made. I would write a thank you email if possible, and wait until you hear back. However unlikely if this were to happen again, once you get them laughing and collect yourself consider explaining the situation. People respect honesty and it sounds like they would have just laughed at you and understood the situation.

 

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