Finally an interview after 8 months, but failed miserably

[Anonymous]

I have been looking for a job for 8 months and finally made it to an in person interview. And I bombed it. No excuses whatsoever. I feel like a failure. This was for a senior data analyst position. I passed the written test no issues there.

The interview was hard. Probably the hardest interview I have had. They didn't ask a single technical question. They only asked behavioral questions. The interviewers were really good. Perhaps despite a 15 years work experience, I never faced real challenges because they kept asking for specifics examples in situation I have never been in. I guess I have been so lucky to have been part of very successful teams that always deliver on time and without internal conflicts.

Then I made a rookie mistake by exaggerating a scenario to answer one of the question. I kind of got frustrated from all the scenarios they were asking about to which I had no examples to share. And there were instances of awkward silence because I couldn't readily come up with examples.

It sucks.

[Anonymous]

OP, tomorrow recall all questions and the answers and write them down. Then next week look at the questions/answers again. You will realize in a stress free environment you have relevant experiences for every question.

And it's not always the best inerviewes who get the job. The person who gets the job is the one they can relate to in some personal level. Even if you "bombed" every question, if they like you they will give you the job.

You are also facing steep competition. In every sector, the quality of unemployed people currently on the market is staggering. I am not exaggerating if I say this may be time where we had the highest number ever of qualified and experienced people looking for work.

Don't give up. Keep grinding. Take the rest of the year off. If you have family spend time with them. If not, friends. If neither try therapy. You need to recharge. Ill be the first to admit sometimes I spend more time online talking to strangers as opposed to spending time with family/friends. Don't neglect your mental health.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Op, sometimes the worse can still be good enough!
Keep fingers crossed. DS thought he did SO great, then radio silence, then came the rejection letter.
Try not to worry about it, keep faith!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, tomorrow recall all questions and the answers and write them down. Then next week look at the questions/answers again. You will realize in a stress free environment you have relevant experiences for every question.

And it's not always the best inerviewes who get the job. The person who gets the job is the one they can relate to in some personal level. Even if you "bombed" every question, if they like you they will give you the job.

You are also facing steep competition. In every sector, the quality of unemployed people currently on the market is staggering. I am not exaggerating if I say this may be time where we had the highest number ever of qualified and experienced people looking for work.

Don't give up. Keep grinding. Take the rest of the year off. If you have family spend time with them. If not, friends. If neither try therapy. You need to recharge. Ill be the first to admit sometimes I spend more time online talking to strangers as opposed to spending time with family/friends. Don't neglect your mental health.

Good luck

Great advice all around. Everyone take care of yourself. It’s a tough market.

[Anonymous]

There was a job I was perfect for but I'm so out of practice with interviewing, it was a complete disaster. It was going brilliantly until they asked a specific question about whether I'd ever approached anyone for fundraising - like a high wealth individual. And I have! Not a lot but some. But for whatever reason, I spat out the name of the one person I know who never gives any money to anyone who asks. As soon as it came out of my mouth, I froze. I could have said - ha, I didn't mean him, I know he never gives money. But instead, I just sort of nodded - knowing that they also know he never gives money.

Anyways, that's my interview story. Interviewing is the worst.

[Anonymous]

Interviews are hard. It's a skill. Some will never master that skill. And it's worse when you are interviewing while unemployed because you are under pressure. When you are employed and not desperate to leave you are more relax. But even then you may be too relax and not come across ass someone who really wants the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, tomorrow recall all questions and the answers and write them down. Then next week look at the questions/answers again. You will realize in a stress free environment you have relevant experiences for every question.

And it's not always the best inerviewes who get the job. The person who gets the job is the one they can relate to in some personal level. Even if you "bombed" every question, if they like you they will give you the job.

You are also facing steep competition. In every sector, the quality of unemployed people currently on the market is staggering. I am not exaggerating if I say this may be time where we had the highest number ever of qualified and experienced people looking for work.

Don't give up. Keep grinding. Take the rest of the year off. If you have family spend time with them. If not, friends. If neither try therapy. You need to recharge. Ill be the first to admit sometimes I spend more time online talking to strangers as opposed to spending time with family/friends. Don't neglect your mental health.

Good luck

Well said. Good post and positive all around.

OP don't give up. I hope 2026 brings you luck.

[Anonymous]

Probably a toxic work environment...as an interviewer I only ask questions on situations or issues that we've had happen.

Get a career coach and practice your interview skills! Try Laura Koepsell.

[Anonymous]

Practice STAR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Practice STAR

This. OP likely had something called competency based interview. This type of interview requires you to provide specific example as proof that you have experience for the scenario they asked about. In this type of interview hypothetical examples are not accepted. These interviews are hard and are a great way to weed out of a lot of candidates.

Let me give you an example. We recently interviewed candidates and asked them to give us an example of a situation when they missed a deadline. Only one out of the 5 people we interviewed had a concrete example. All the other 4 always met their deadline. It may seem unfair that the ones who always met deadlines were not a good fit. To be honest I hate these interviews.

[Anonymous]

When I interview candidates I always tell them to take their time to find a good example. And if I feel.that they didnt provide a good example, I guide them to a better example. Now if you can't give me a relevant example in spite of me holding your hand, then it means to me that you do not have enough experience yet. It's not a reflection of you, I just know that the next candidate likely has the experience that you don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I interview candidates I always tell them to take their time to find a good example. And if I feel.that they didnt provide a good example, I guide them to a better example. Now if you can't give me a relevant example in spite of me holding your hand, then it means to me that you do not have enough experience yet. It's not a reflection of you, I just know that the next candidate likely has the experience that you don't.

I give these interviews and have been interviewed this way. They are often hard not because we don’t have the experience (we’ve all missed a deadline!) but because some of us don’t have good recall. I’m one of them. I’m dyslexic and have poor recall of disconnected facts - it’s just part of my brain wiring. So I may not be able to bring the example to mind quickly enough to answer the question. I am a really good manager and leader, though. I’ve found a few things helpful with these interviews. One, take your time. Really, be okay with “let me think about that for a second.” And then letting there be silence. Two, prepare a set of experiences - projects, deliverables, whatever. Before the interview write them out - what happened, good and bad, what you learned, managing up and down, etc. Then for the actual interview bring in few short hand notes you can glance at when you can’t think of an example. It won’t get you through every question, but it will help.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I'm sorry.

But I bet it went 100x better than you think. Breathe, and don't write it off completely yet!

[Anonymous]

When they don’t ask technical questions it means they are not technical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been looking for a job for 8 months and finally made it to an in person interview. And I bombed it. No excuses whatsoever. I feel like a failure. This was for a senior data analyst position. I passed the written test no issues there.

The interview was hard. Probably the hardest interview I have had. They didn't ask a single technical question. They only asked behavioral questions. The interviewers were really good. Perhaps despite a 15 years work experience, I never faced real challenges because they kept asking for specifics examples in situation I have never been in. I guess I have been so lucky to have been part of very successful teams that always deliver on time and without internal conflicts.

Then I made a rookie mistake by exaggerating a scenario to answer one of the question. I kind of got frustrated from all the scenarios they were asking about to which I had no examples to share. And there were instances of awkward silence because I couldn't readily come up with examples.

It sucks.

Maybe we can help you prepare for the next one. What was the question?