62 ms·
I've found this with myself as well. In one of my worst-ever interviews, I had the flu really badly the entire time, and read the signals of all of my interview
by cryoshon 11y ago
I've found this with myself as well. In one of my worst-ever interviews, I had the flu really badly the entire time, and read the signals of all of my interviewers to be both negative regarding my technical chops and negative toward my weakened state. I got the job, and was very well liked. In another trainwreck of an interview where I seriously considered standing up and leaving after getting extreme negative signals, I was offered the job as well-- but I should have paid attention to the negative signals, as they were indicative of larger problems with that group.
In other interviews, I've massively overestimated my own performance, seeing positive signals everywhere and being very impressed with myself-- of course, these didn't pull through, and my confidence was dashed. In another incidence, I did get the job offer.
The most confusing are the interviews in which I don't have a strong feeling of doing well or poorly either way-- not the median case, but certainly it happens frequently enough that I've gotten a job where I didn't think that I stood out. If anything, these cases are a consolation that others may see something positive that I don't see in myself.
This tells me that my ability to correctly predict my interview performance is no more efficacious than random chance. I think that there are a few confounding factors which make interviewee measuring interview performance as perceived by the interviewer difficult. Interviews are a time of endless posturing, flagrant lies, propaganda, and overt deception hopefully mingled in with actual mutual interest, excitement, and good will. There are many social signals to keep track of in addition to self-monitoring to ensure the correct outcome. For people who are not the strongest socially, I think that these social signals tend to get dropped intermittently as attention shifts inward (don't say the wrong thing) or outward (get this technical problem correct).
- vdnkh 11y agoIt's a fools errand to try and predict interview performance. I've been interviewing for a short while now and haven't gotten an offer yet despite feeling really great (and for some, really crappy) about my interviews. Feedback from the interviewers is equally inaccurate. On my most recent interview, I was told that my solution to their coding challenge was one of the best they'd ever seen, and that the feedback so far was extremely positive. Two days later I got the "another direction" email. I don't really take rejection to heart anymore but I hate not knowing what I need to do better.
- ju-st 11y agoI ask myself after a job interview if I really like my potential tasks, the people and the work environment. If "yes", then I will not get the job. If I don't like it then I will get an offer. This metric worked for me the last 5 out of 5 times.
- vdnkh 11y agoI've yet to be met with success but I'm getting closer. I'm refactoring the way I present myself to emphasize the value I bring. I believe I was too focused on how the company could benefit me. Not salary or perks, but mentorship and training since I'm still early in my career. The thing is that I already bring a lot of value - I could definitely bring more, but I failed to emphasize what I already have.
- joeax 11y agoSometimes it has nothing to do with your performance. Budget cuts, downsizing, sudden hiring freezes, or possibly you were the last candidate but the VP is already sold on another guy. Sometimes job parameters shift, they are looking for different areas of expertise and they don't realize it til after they interview a bunch of people.