My Interview Journey

Sometimes the journey is pretty tough and the way you look at it makes it totally worth it or a painful one. For anyone, after completing their college or higher studies, they want to get a job in a good company with a good salary. But the problem is, this is not as easy as it seems to be. If it was so easy, then everyone would stick on to their respective jobs and no one would leave their jobs. Remember how our parents used to do their jobs, joining a company and staying their for long, like 20 or 30 years and then retire.

Fortunate or not, I have attended a lot of interviews and if you ask me how do I look at it, well I am happy that I had to attend so many interviews and learnt a lot with so many unique experiences. As Steve Jobs said, "You cannot connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect it looking backwards" I would like to share some unique interview experiences of mine, which taught me a lot and made me a better person. I would not like to share the name the company, instead name it as company 1, 2 and 3.

Company 1:

This is first interview, if I am not wrong. It was one of the Big 4 Audit firms. A recruitment consultant called asked me if I was interested in the job. I said yes and my resume was processed. Interview date and time was fixed but unfortunately, it was postponed as the concerned person in the company was travelling. Later, a new date was fixed and the scheduled time was 10 am. I prepared for the interview and was getting ready. At around 8.30 am on the interview day, the consultant called me and said that, the company has hired another candidate for the job, so my interview is cancelled. It was a case of so close yet so far.  Not getting shortlisted is fine, but after getting shortlisted, when you are close to attending the interview, it kind of breaks your heart.

Company 2:

This was a small Management Consulting firm. I had not yet completed my CA. I attended the interview. The written test went well and oral interview also went well. The Interviewer was impressed with my written test. The job description and pay was good. When everything is so right then how could things can go wrong, but then came the real surprise, the interviewer said, “You are overqualified for the job” After hearing this, I didn’t know whether I should be happy for being qualified or should be sad for not getting the job. After that, he didn’t get back to me. The ride from the company to my house, around 25 kms, was a painful one. The sad feeling was that, even though you are ready to do the job, the company doesn’t was to hire you. It was tough. I was kind of blank and numb.

Company 3:

This was the most interesting and painful one too. It was a mid size IT company. The Interview was fixed on a Saturday at 10 am. As with any other interview, I was prepared, dressed in formals and went to the interview. The distance from my house to the company was around 16 kms. I reached the company before time and approached the security guy who was at that building where my interview was to be held. He then called the concerned lady who was the contact person in the company. The lady told me, “Today your interview is not there. It has been rescheduled, really sorry for the trouble.” Due to some miscommunication between the company person and recruitment consultant, the interview was never fixed on Saturday. Then the company person asked me to come at around 5 pm on the coming Monday. That Saturday, coming back from the company to my house, it was one of the longest rides of my life, if I can say. It was painful for sure. I rode slowly with a smile, didn't know what to make of it.

Then on Monday, at around 4 pm I left my house. About 500 metres from my house, I met with an accident. A middle-aged person suddenly took a right turn without any indication and I hit his bike directly and both fell down. The riding handle on my bike was damaged and I could not ride further. I had some scratches on my hands along with the internal pain. I thought of calling the concerned person and informing her about the accident, but then I didn’t want to lose the opportunity of attending the interview considering that the last one was cancelled. I took my dad’s vehicle and went for the interview.  I give a lot of importance to time and make sure that I always be on time or before that. I just had to rush for the interview, I drove fast and reached the company at 5.05 pm, 5 minutes late. Then there, I waited for 1 hour. A written test was there, I submitted it and never heard from that company till now. This interview experience is still afresh in my mind.  

These experiences taught me one thing, no matter how bad or hard things get, you need to back yourself believing that something better awaits you and move on. The only thing that helps you in these situations is your positive attitude and choosing to look at things differently. I like to thank God for giving me the strength to move on in spite of some not so good experiences. Trust me, God knows better as to what is good for you than you know yourself. But one thing is for sure you should never stop trying. Remember that you are all alone and you are responsible for your own actions. I would like to sign off by saying that,

“It’s a lonely road and it’s the journey that matters, not the destination. Sometimes believing that things will work out fine is the best way to deal with a situation”

Just remember: Failure => Experiences => Life

Prashanth

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