Ed. Note: In case you missed Part 1, read it here. Part 2 is here.

   Now is a good time to reiterate a statement I made two weeks ago, when I started writing about my worst job interviews. It is very easy to let the negatives of the job hunt get to you. If you have gone through anything similar to the experiences I have written about, please remember that you are not alone.

I hope that, by sharing these experiences, you will realize that the best thing you can do after an “interview from hell,” is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep trying. This week’s experience took place last year, and I had no idea that it would turn into a nightmare interview. As with the previous writings, all names have been changed. Time to continue with:

MY WORST INTERVIEWS PART 3 (CONCLUSION)

   It was a sunny day at the beginning of summer, last year. I received a “head’s up” from one of my network contacts that a local company was looking for someone with supply chain experience. I was told that Smegema International was planning to advertise a Demand Planner position on one of the internet job boards.

   I felt that this would be a great opportunity to put the new networking skills I learned to practice. All initial signs indicated that the networking techniques were working well. Two days after I gave a resume to my network contact, I received a call from Smegema’s Human Resources Department. I was asked some questions about my background and my current employment status. The HR person seemed pleased and told me that I could expect a call from the department supervisor within a week.

   Things seemed to be going well. The department supervisor conducted a telephone interview, and she was pleased with my responses, so I asked her what the next step would be. I was told that she would review the list, and pick the 5 top candidates for a face to face interview. Based on the results of the face to face interview, the winning candidate would receive an employment offer.

   I received a phone call from the supervisor a day later, informing me that I was one of the candidates selected. I suggested that, in order to use our interview time more efficiently, that the company send me an application for employment, so I could fill it out in advance.

   I headed to the interview, confident that I could impress everyone involved in the hiring process. Little did I know, I was about to encounter an interview from hell.

   I arrived at the company and gave my name to the receptionist. “I trust you filled out your employment application”, stated the receptionist coldly. “We really do not appreciate it when candidates come unprepared!” Now this was a bit of a shock. I thought that receptionists were usually the easiest people to speak to during the interview process. Maybe she woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I thought. I handed her the application, and the receptionist reviewed it carefully. A minute later she told me that the application was in order and asked for an additional copy of my resume. I handed her my resume and I was about to re-seat myself when she stopped me.

   “Sir, you will need to review this for your meeting today.” The receptionist handed me a thick binder.

   I looked at the cover. It was titled “Roberts Rules of order – Revised for Smegema Corporation February, 2009.”

   I glanced at the book. It must have been over 300 pages. “Can I ask why I will need this book”, I inquired.

   “Sir, you will have 15 minutes to review the rules. A panel of 7 of our top employees will be reviewing your credentials and asking you detailed questions about your employment history. You now have less than 14 minutes to review our rules. Need I say that how you follow our rules of order is very important. If you do not follow our rules, we will disqualify you as a candidate.”

   Now I was getting concerned. I vaguely remembered studying Robert’s Rules of order in High School. As I reviewed the pages, it became clear to me that this version was a perverse alteration of those rules; it seems that this company had their own agenda on how to interview and these rules were set up to put the candidates at a disadvantage. Nonetheless I knew I had to pull myself together. I was not going to let this book intimidate me.

   About 14 minutes later I was summoned into a large conference room. Seven people were seated in a circle, with a center chair placed higher than the others. I was told to sit in a small chair that was in the middle of the circle. All the parties introduced themselves. Now it was my turn. I introduced myself, gave a one minute synopsis of my strongest attributes, hoping that the panel would be impressed. As I finished, everyone remained silent. The silence must have lasted for over a minute. The person on my right tried to catch my attention.

   “You need to say THANK YOU to end your speech. It’s on page 10 of our rules of order.” It was at that point I noticed that everyone in the room was staring at me. Slightly embarrassed, I said “thank you” and the interview continued.

   A man to the left of me asked for permission to speak, which was granted by the chairperson. “Describe how you would handle a vendor that missed a critical commitment and the corrective action you would take to insure the vendor would strictly comply with our requirements in the future….Thank you.”

   Before I could answer the question panel member, seated to my right, spoke. “Point of clarification requested please.” The woman seated on the tallest chair spoke. “Clarification allowed. Please state your addition…..Thank you.” “Thank you Ms. Endel. Mr. Young, In addition to the lateness, our inspection department finds a dimensional discrepancy. How would you address the discrepancy?…Thank you.”

   I started to answer the question when I was interrupted by another clarification. This time I was asked which machinist tool I would use to correct a dimensional discrepancy. Now I was getting concerned, as there was no mention that machinist skills were required for this position. I tried to explain that my specialty was supply chain, when one of the panel members advised me that I violated another one of their rules.

   “Need I remind you, Mr. Young, that you are bound by our rules of order and you have just violated rule 53 on Page 98. You failed to acknowledge Mr. Dwight’s raised hand.” I tried to correct this error when another “point of clarification” was allowed. Eventually I was allowed to answer a question when another member spoke. Shortly afterword I requested a point of clarification to a question. The request was denied by the chairperson.

   As the interview wound down I did not know whether I was more upset or angry. As I answered the last interview question I almost could not help adding a five second delay before my final “Thank you.”

   That night I wondered if it was worthwhile to mention to anyone that I felt their interview tactics were not fair. I thought about it and decided to send my typical “Thank you” letters instead. After all, I did have two favorable phone interviews before the face to face interview travesty. Several days later I received a letter from Human Resources, notifying me that, although my credentials were impressive, I would not receive an employment offer. Best to just move on, I thought.

   So what did I learn from this experience? The first thing that I learned was that I needed more experience when it came to panel interviews. Second,I thought that taking another look at Robert’s Rules of Order may not be a bad idea. Finally, if you ever meet me in person and I say “Thanks” instead of “Thank you”, now you know why.

   Last week I ran into the contact who recommended me for the position at Smegema. “By the way”. I inquired,” did Smegema ever hire a Demand Planner for the position I interviewed for?” “Funny you should ask that Howard”, answered my contact, “They are still interviewing for that position. I can’t believe it! My friend over at HR can’t seem to understand why they cannot find a suitable candidate.”

   Although I remained silent, I felt I could have answered his question with one word: “DUUUUHH”

Good Hunting to All

-By Howard K. Young, Contributing Writer & Member of The 405 Club.

View all of Howard’s posts here.