Trusting gut instinct in interviews?

[Anonymous]

If you get a bad vibe from an interviewer during a video call, is that a sign?

Have you found your impression of them live up to it in real life if offered the job?

[Anonymous]

Yes. I always trust my gut.

[Anonymous]

At my current job, I was underwhelmed by my interviewers, but I knew my boss' boss and thought highly of him. He had recruited me to take over for my boss after a period of time.

I pushed past my gut and the bad interviews and took the job. Best work decision I've ever made. And the interviews weren't accurate indicators of what I encountered once I arrived.

That said, my situation was clearly uncommon, so unless you have a strong secondary data point, I'd trust your gut.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I surprised my interviewers with my go to filter question they weren’t prepared for and I don’t like the way they looked at each other before answering. I needed the money so took the job anyway but my hunch about how things would go was right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I surprised my interviewers with my go to filter question they weren’t prepared for and I don’t like the way they looked at each other before answering. I needed the money so took the job anyway but my hunch about how things would go was right.

Would love to know the magic question!

[Anonymous]

The impressions I have got of interviewers in most of my interviews have been wrong. Those whom I thought would be difficult to work with turned out to be easy to work with. Those who appeared friendly and kind turned out to be exactly the opposite in reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The impressions I have got of interviewers in most of my interviews have been wrong. Those whom I thought would be difficult to work with turned out to be easy to work with. Those who appeared friendly and kind turned out to be exactly the opposite in reality.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The impressions I have got of interviewers in most of my interviews have been wrong. Those whom I thought would be difficult to work with turned out to be easy to work with. Those who appeared friendly and kind turned out to be exactly the opposite in reality.

Interesting question.

I'm adding to this PP to say that I've interviewed and hired hundreds of people. I have been fooled by candidates and so have my colleagues and hired some terrible people who interviewed well. I have also interviewed candidates I knew were good employees who were bad interviewees. So I would not necessarily rule out a place because of how they interview you and the impression you get from this unnatural conversation. People put on a professional persona and don't act like themselves or they reveal too much of their personality and maybe aren't like that day to day. I think of myself as being very intuitive so I say this because it's possible to be wrong.

I would look at Glass Door and any other review sites or think of what you've heard about a place.

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

I say always trust your gut. I've hired, or been part of the hiring process, for quite a few people and my gut is almost always right. My gut was telling me not to take my current job but it was a great opportunity. Should have trusted my gut.

[Anonymous]

What about trusting gut for assessing your performance in a job interview? Sometimes I think I did well but then have second thoughts and reply my answers in my head. Do others do this? How can you know if you did well and it’s not just in your head?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about trusting gut for assessing your performance in a job interview? Sometimes I think I did well but then have second thoughts and reply my answers in my head. Do others do this? How can you know if you did well and it’s not just in your head?

I’ve been interviewing and I think i know when I did well and when I didn’t. But even when I think I did well I didn’t end up getting the job. It’s a mind game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my current job, I was underwhelmed by my interviewers, but I knew my boss' boss and thought highly of him. He had recruited me to take over for my boss after a period of time.

I pushed past my gut and the bad interviews and took the job. Best work decision I've ever made. And the interviews weren't accurate indicators of what I encountered once I arrived.

That said, my situation was clearly uncommon, so unless you have a strong secondary data point, I'd trust your gut.

I had a similar experience but my gut turned out to be right. The place was a nightmare and the following two years were the most stressful of my career. Survived but man it was hard. In hindsight, I would still have taken the job but would have done more digging to make sure I knew what I was getting into. I walked in and was completed blindsided—shouldn’t have been given how off the interview was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I surprised my interviewers with my go to filter question they weren’t prepared for and I don’t like the way they looked at each other before answering. I needed the money so took the job anyway but my hunch about how things would go was right.

Would love to know the magic question!

Yes! What's the magic question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you get a bad vibe from an interviewer during a video call, is that a sign?

Have you found your impression of them live up to it in real life if offered the job?

Yes. I remember feeling distinctively uneasy during the interviews with a consulting firm last year, but I took the job anyway (I was desperate to get out of a toxic job environment). Unfortunately, I accepted the offer and ended up in an equally as toxic environment when I took the consulting role and was laid off unceremoniously five months later (with zero severance and insurance coverage only through the end of the month, which was like, five days later).

Luckily I’m now in an awesome environment where I feel valued, seen, appreciated, and well-utilized. I got great vibes during the interview process for this role, FWIW.

So yes. Definitely trust your instincts.