Hustle interviewer

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experience here, very helpful question for a lot of candidates, and not easy to answer but I will try my best.

A couple of questions for you : 

1) Did the recruiting team provide detailed feedback about your performance in your interviews? Did they give you details about what your strengths and weaknesses were and why you did not make the cut ?

2) Was there an issue during your interview beyond the personality or state of mind of the interviewer (insult, disrespect, etc)?

On your performance during the interview, it happens to simply miss an interview even though performance has been stellar in all other interviews. That's why it is important that you understand how you performed, and that you ask for a detailed feedback if you did not get any.

On your point about the interviewer, it is quite typical to have at least one difficult interviewer during your recruitment process to see how you deal with someone that is non-expressive, irritated, etc. It is an important to skill to be able to manage people with low energy, as you will need it on the job with your clients day-to-day.

But if you tell me that something actually ‘bad’ (insult, disrespect, etc) happened during that interview, and that you have reasons to believe that you were not invited to the last round because of what happened, then you should definitely report it.

Hope it helps, and thanks again for sharing!

Best,

Mehdi

Hey,

Such situations are not unheard of, but rare. So, perhaps you were just unlucky on that day.

But before you draw conclusions, try and get some concrete feedback if possible. Maybe you took things too personally, became defensive and could have performed better under pressure?! I maybe wrong but you know best.

Humans unconsciously mimic the emotions of the person in front of them. You may have noticed this. Sometimes when you are with a friend or sibling who is angry (or happy), you get angry (or happy) as well without realising it. So, try and be relaxed (and smile as required) as much as possible.

Focus on giving your best even if the interview is going badly

• Perhaps the interviewer is having a bad day, or they are not friendly at all or it’s just not your day. Regardless, don’t make things too personal or take things too seriously. This is not a matter of life & death and all you can really do is to remain focused and give your best. You can’t control outside situations or dictate the interviewer’s behaviour. Neither is every interview going to be great, nor is every interview going to be bad. But you can try & ensure that you continue to be present and just give your best. 

There isn't much you can do. You can talk to HR, ask for another chance… it won't change the end result.

That's why you have to apply to multiple consulting firms, and that is why most candidates don't get multiple MBB offers and why most of the consultants at Tier-2 firms are actually candidates who were unlucky during their recruiting process with MBB.

Sorry to hear that, that is quite unfortunate and just “bad luck”. 

It's not totally unusual that you come across at least 1 “difficult” interviewer. If you face such situations in the future, it's in your best interest to remain calm and composed, and not be negatively influenced by it. Of course, it's easier said than done… it takes some experience :)

That being said, if you ever experience behavior/ action that was truly unprofessional/ disrespectful, you should report to the recruiter/ HR.

Good luck!

Hey there,

I would definitely pick that up with HR and discuss your situation. This is super unprofessional and should not happen…

I had a candidate a couple of months ago with McKinsey, whose interviewer was stressed and doing the case during a taxi ride with sound cutting out all the time, etc.

He did not pass due to this interviewer's feedback. I asked my coachee to reach out to HR to explain the situation.

He actually got a second try based on his experience.

Fingers crossed!

Cheers,

Florian

Firstly, I am sorry about the interview experience. It is difficult when for no fault of your own you have a bad interviewer. It also does happen because everyone is human. They might have been shouted at by their client or even had a personal issue.

There is not much you can control externally from here. It is likely that if the other interviews went well that they will have a healthy debate about your performance and you can get an offer regardless of this interview. 

As tough as it is, hang in there and be patient. No matter what happens given your drive to get this far and effort you have put in you will have a great career.

Best,

Udayan

Hi there,

You need to wait.

Please please do not reach out to HR or anyone at the firm about this.

Wait for a result.

If you're in, there's no need to do anything (truly, we never know). If you're not in, then reach out to HR and explain the situation. I have had a candidate or two that managed to get their interview re-done because of genuine interviewer issues.

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, it certainly sounds frustrating. You can't control the interviewer's mood, but a lot of the time it will have nothing to do with their perception of you as a candidate. 

If you are asking in terms of what to do now, I would wait and see what the outcome is. If you get in, there's no need to do anything, but if not you could have a careful conversation with recruiting.

If you are asking about how to handle such a situation in general, unfortunately there's not much more you can do than stay calm and proceed through the case as you practiced. If you feel like the interviewer is cutting you off or asking you the same questions, you could ask more clarifications to see what they are trying to get at.

Hi!

Interviewers might be living a tough day, but they usually maintain their professionalism and give feedback based on performance rather than mood.

What you can do is be relaxed, stay focused, and try to make the interview a discussion rather than a stress test.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Anto

It is unfortunate - and it does happen once in a while.

Best strategy is to write to the HR/recruiter. No need to complain - but rather explain the situation and how you feel it impacted your performance in the interview.

If you appear as a complaining person - then it may not have as much impact - companies are protective of their employees. If you can clearly articulate the technical difficulties you faced and how it prevented you from showing your full potential - then there might still be a case for discussion.