Most of us have practiced the art of acting at no point in our lives, but when you’re suddenly thrust in front of an interview panel, you suddenly need to play the part of the most hirable person who will sit in that hot seat.
The performative nature of job interviews can be unnerving, and you’re so eager to portray yourself positively that you can fail to accurately and positively portray yourself. You also might be so nervous that you let that get in the way and suddenly find yourself witless, unable to properly answer questions or portray experience and skills in areas that you are normally confident and competent.
Often, you’ll never even know what it was that went wrong, with no real feedback being offered from interviewers. You’ll be left wondering what went wrong and what you could have done differently. It might not be that anything went wrong at all; they might have already had someone in mind for the job, but were required to advertise for other applicants before they were able to “justify” their original choice. There could also be any number of other reasons why you never even had a shot to begin with. Of course, you’ll never know this, and even if there was something you could have done, that feedback will be absent.
Not so for this interview candidate, who literally talked him out of a position that was basically a sure thing. On paper, he looked like the ideal candidate; he had good experience and a resume that was impressive to the first and second round interviewers. But when he arrived for his third round interview and began to speak, he simply couldn’t be stopped, not letting the interviewers get a word in edgewise to progress the interview until they were forced to cut it off. The interviewer outlined exactly what had happened and what had gone wrong, leaving the candidate stunned and silenced.
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