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I Had a Job Interview and I Bombed It

Dillon

Well-Known Member
I posted on my profile that I had a job interview for an environmental consulting firm and I was excited about it, I was prepared and was ready to knock it put of the park. Well that didn’t pan out like I had hoped.
I struggled in my interview with mainly behavioral type questions about myself where more than half I just made some stuff up. I’ve never or rarely have problems with that type of format of interview but I’m thrown questions such as “do you work well with a team or by yourself”, “what is your management style”, “why did you decide to pursue our company”, and even the easiest of all “what is one thing your are most proud of”. I felt myself stumble each and every time to the point I was repeating words/phrases, I went blank multiple times, and I was mispronouncing words that I’ve never done before.

The whole vibe of the interview was weird which of course both hiring managers seemed uninterested but it was like a corporate office environment I wouldn’t be happy in anyway. After the interview was over though and I got in my car I just start blaming myself and getting emotionally upset.

Besides that point though it’s been like what 6 months now of unemployment and I’ve tried a lot of things to improve my interview performance and while it has gotten better a little bit I’m still nowhere I need to be to verbally express to these employers why I’m interested in the job and to persuade them I am more than capable.

I do have another interview on Tuesday and I’m just hoping this one goes well and I do my best.
 
Communication skills in interviews will improve with practice but it's not the sort of thing you can practice at home where you're not under the same pressure. Don't kick yourself too hard, the more interviews you go to the more your skill will improve.
 
Communication skills in interviews will improve with practice but it's not the sort of thing you can practice at home where you're not under the same pressure. Don't kick yourself too hard, the more interviews you go to the more your skill will improve.
Yes true and plus I haven’t had one in over a month so maybe I’m just rusty.
 
I’m sorry you are going through this. These kinds of interviews are really tough for us.

You mentioned the interviewers seemed uninterested. This is a clue they already know who they are going through but they have to interview a certain number of people, or some other bureaucratic regulation.

I’d suggest applying for many jobs and get as much interview experience as you can. You can always decline a job if it’s something you don’t want.
 
It's this corporate game you have to learn how to play. I had to engage in team building exercises today myself and I have to say I hate them but they're required, unfortunately.

You can google these questions and have sort of pre-prepared answers. Mostly you have to be able to deliver them in a convincing manner. So think of these interviews as just practice. You got this.
 
Over the years I had hundreds of interviews, some went very well others not. The ones that went well were where I got along well with the interviewer. My First position the person doing the hiring had a Phd in chemistry. We both enjoyed the conversation.
 
I’m sorry you are going through this. These kinds of interviews are really tough for us.

You mentioned the interviewers seemed uninterested. This is a clue they already know who they are going through but they have to interview a certain number of people, or some other bureaucratic regulation.

I’d suggest applying for many jobs and get as much interview experience as you can. You can always decline a job if it’s something you don’t want.
About that I’ve applied for various amount of jobs between Christmas and last week and I have 8 other interviews so far throughout this month, probably be getting more.
One I have on Tuesday is working at a hotel as a front desk associate. Of course completely out of my field I just thought of applying to anything like customer service to at least make some money.
 
Interviews are a huge barrier for many autistic folks even when they are perfectly qualified for the job. In my experience, the behavioral interview questions are the worst type of question to try and answer. Name a time when you disagreed with a coworker at work and how did you resolve the disagreement? What are you most proud of in your career? It is hard to anticipate all the various behavioral interview questions that may get thrown at you, but I always found it helpful to think of different situations from your past - whether from school or from work. Then I would practice on my own by just explaining the experience out loud. During the interview, I could then pull an example of an experience and tailor it to the question being asked. But overall I hate the behavioral questions. I also do not think they are a good barometer of how someone will perform in a job because they often times have nothing to do with the day to day job duties. And people can make stories up or fabricate their experience when answering a question.

Practice can help, but autistic folks are definitely at a disadvantage when it comes to interviewing. I've always done best when the interview moves on from the behavioral questions and focusses more on the job duties and your technical skills. But that often depends on the nature of the job and how far along you are in your career.

It is a deflating feeling when you feel like you did poorly in an interview, but don't beat yourself up too bad. Maybe it would not have been a good fit anyway. I have been disappointed many times in the past, but in hindsight some of these jobs would have been a good fit and the wrong move for me.
 
I've landed 7 positions over the years but it took hundreds of interviews, so obviously many failed my last position lasted 21 years, so take it for what it is. Interviews are not important, its getting the position.
 
Truthfully, the interviewers are looking for someone tthat will jel with their existing employees. So just answer those questions after you research some answers, then you will be prepared. Those are quite common questions to ask. The statistics are that the interview person has already made up theitr mind of if they would hire you in about 5 mins. Don't forget to thank them for their time, express interest in the position, and ask when they will decide. This helps you stay in their mind. I always try to ask one good question about the position being offered. Good luck.
 
You can also use your own psychological tricks in interviews, you'll find that a lot of people doing interviews are just as unsure of themselves as you are and it's not difficult to turn the tables and put them on the back foot. Stride in with confidence and introduce yourself then hit them with a couple of questions before they get chance to ask any of their own. Start them talking to you like you're actually human and their interview criteria falls apart.
 
Something that may help as a practice is doing roleplay at home with family and friends. Some examples:

+ You Roleplay like you are the owner of a pizza restaurant and need to find workers. So design all kind of questions and/or tests for them to answer. Then your family/friends will roleplay like they want the job. Some times they will play the role of a timid person, sometimes they will play like gansters, like rich people or like poor. Other times like they are nervous...

+ Some other day they invent what will be their bussiness and you will roleplay as random people. You could make cards for what kind of applicant you/they need to roleplay.

Make it fun, like a game.
 
Good luck with your next interview, Dillon - and sorry to hear about bombing that one you which you describe.
 
I came across this on FB recently and I thought it was worth saving.
Hope it helps you - all the best with the next interview
 

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Interviews are a bizarre game. I've concluded that they are not about finding out whether you can do the job; it's all about A) Do you know how to play the interview game, and B) Do the interviewers like you/think you would fit easily into their current team. Whether you can do the job or not is almost irrelevant. 

Point B does actually have some relevance to doing the job as interpersonal conflicts can be the hardest to deal with. But there is still the tendency for interviewers to choose “we like this person even though they may be less qualified” rather than “could do the job brilliantly but there’s just something we don’t gel with.”

The "playing the game" aspect is something that can be learned, but from the feedback I've learned (from my interview failures!) is that when they say "you need to sell yourself more", what they mean is "what we wanted to hear was what we already decided the answer should be, not anything truly related to you and your experience."

Even so, it's best to stick to something at least related to the truth if you can.

Another problem is that interview questions are often very vague, and it's not clear to those of us who think more literally/concretely what answer they want.

The Job Interview Cheat sheet linked by Alexej seems to be pretty good, and gives some sensible advice on what some of the usual vague interview questions are really about and how you should answer them.

Other things to do could be:

If (like me) plans you make in your head tend to sort of float around and then just disappear when you need them, you could:

Write them down. For instance, if you've thought up some potential questions and answers, write them down and read them over and over. I remember things I've written down much better than things I've just thought about and decided in my head.

Or, if you remember things better if you hear them rather than see them, record the answers and listen back.

Getting feedback from others is good (especially people who are good at interviews!). Not people who will just tell you what you want to hear.

Also, checking with a LLM AI - like ChatGPT - can be really good. You can give them some information about yourself (not anything private, just general about your experience, qualifications etc) and ask "How should I answer a question about...?" or "How should I answer this type of question?" Or, if you've already drafted an answer yourself, you could ask the AI whether it's a good answer or how it could be improved.

Getting feedback from the interviewers on why they didn't appoint you, is also useful. Even if you think you know what went wrong, it's useful to get their take on it. However, bear in mind they are unlikely to say, "Sorry, mate, we just didn't like you". But you might be able to figure it out, especially if you ask someone else (or ChatGPT) for their take on it.

But also, it's useful to remember two things:
1. An interview is about you looking at them just as much as them looking at you. If you don't like them, then you probably wouldn't like working there either. This may be more or less important to you, depending on how much you need the job.
2. There can be only one winner (or at least a limited number). It's not like an exam where you pass or fail on your own merits. It's more like a race where you have to do better than everyone else. Sometimes, even if you did brilliantly on the interview, you still don't get the job because - on the day - there was somebody just that little bit better.

Best of luck for next time!
 

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