They decided to go with a different candidate...

I just got bad news from the recruiter I worked with. She said they chose another candidate.

The problem with it though is that I went through 1 initial phone interview, 1 technical interview, 1 phone interview with VP of technology, passed 2 tests (similar to Microsoft 70-462 and 70-480 tests) with 90%+ scores and 4 hour long in-person interview with the whole senior IT team (IT manager, VP, 2 system engineers) which was basically a conversation about the company, latest trends in IT, sports, company's parties, etc. - nothing technical, since they wanted to make sure that I will fit perfectly in their team.
While I was going through the whole process, recruiter checked my references which were senior IT guys and my previous Director of IT. I also met with her to talk about the position and she informed me that besides me they only have one candidate who has 5!!! more years of experience. I asked her why would they even consider me if he was able to pass all the technical interviews, tests and has more experience (I have approx 7 years - 4 years in support and 3 years in IT management/engineering), she said that they still want to see who will be a better team player.
I had an in-person interview yesterday and it was almost 4 hours long and he had it today and I'm guessing it wasn't longer than 2 hours. My recruiter called and informed me that they liked me and would probably hire both if they had budget for two positions but eventually decided to bring him on-board because he has more experience in the technology they needed an expert on in the first place.

I still don't get it why would they want to meet with me if they had someone more experienced lined-up? May be they wanted to make sure that besides technical skills he is a normal person too otherwise they would just be ok without an extra 5 years of experience? How was he able to show his skills during the in-person interview since there were almost no technical questions?

Just wanted to share this sad part of my life that lingered for almost a month..

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Comments

kohr-ah

Look at it as you got good valuable interview experience.

Because what if the first person didn't work out? What if he didn't accept the offer or threw something out there and the company went WOOOHHHH UH UH BUDDY. They need to keep their options open as much as you do.

Just remember. For every door closes another opens. Dont take this as a loss. Take this as a better opportunity was meant for you.

markulous

Guessing you were the fallback option if he declined their offer or just didn't fall through for whatever reason. With how extensive their interview process was, they would be foolish not to have a couple candidates. If he didn't work out, then it sounds like it would take quite a bit more time to hire a replacement to go through that whole process, but since you were there it gave them insurance. And there's always the chance he shows up to work and for whatever reason he just doesn't fit in, they can call your recruiter and again not have to go through the interview process again.

dave330i

Because experience /= knowledge/skill. I've had fair share of interviews where I've beaten out other candidates with much more experience.

IT-Fella

Thank you guys for your support! This forum really helped me to get over it faster. I don't give up - going to study harder and look for other opportunities out there.

jibbajabba

Goes both ways to be honest. You interview with multiple companies and companies interview multiple candidates. Just because he is more experienced, doesn't mean he'd accept the job if offered.

Imagine the more experienced guy refuses the offer - they'd start at square #1 - hence they have more people in the bag.

Recruiter are sales people - so they need to make sure they place SOMEONE - THEY don't care if it is you or him or someone else.

You may have been the fallback option as markulous says - but at some point you will be the more experienced person and someone else is the fallback

All part of the game - and interview experience is indeed invaluable ...

GoodBishop

Yeah, don't worry about it. You got some excellent interviewing experience, and made a few connections. The experience was worthwhile.

the_Grinch

Don't sweat it. If I had a dollar for every interview I went on where I did well, but didn't get selected I'd have a few less student loans. One job was mine until by the end they decided to keep it as a coop spot instead of converting it to a fulltime position. Everything leads to something.

Cyber_space

I think we have all been there. As others have said, it's a learning experience and it just wasn't the one. The right one will come along soon! Head UP and Keep going!

Thefoxyfox

Don't undervalue the additional interviewing experience. You always come away with something after a new interview - as different question sets may be presented to you (or things like word games, etc). They most likely wanted you in the running as a backup in case he didn't take the job offer or something else came up.

Jon_Cisco

It sucks you didn't get the job but almost every opening only has one winner. Be positive about being the runner up.

I agree the other posters that's great interview experience.

IIIMaster

That sucks man. I think they drug you to far into the interview process and waste your time. A few interviews yeah but geesh man. Good luck to you man Im sure you will bounce back somewhere real gravy.

TheProfezzor

They were having a difficult time, deciding among the two of you. Even though he had 5 years of additional experience, they saw you as a viable option. To me, that alone is very satisfying. However, since they had only one position to be filled, they could only hire one of you. The recruiter might be looking into your credentials, to engage you later, for another opportunity. Don't be disappointed, just because you didn't get hired. Be confident that you competed till the end and are worth the time and consideration. Good luck with your future endeavors.

zaleonardz

To the OP,

As a member of management, it probably did not have THAT much to do with technical ability.

You can have 20 years worth of experience in IT, using file and print sharing, but if you ignored the launch of SharePoint then your 20 years = Null (stupid example)

If you can administrate SQL and the other fellow can dev in SQL, then his Techskills > Yours

If you can both Dev in SQL, and your Skills are equal, then it comes down to presentation of skills

If his presentation was better, even though you had superior skills, then Sales > You, regardless.

Investing in an employee actually has more to do with personality and Fit then technical skills.

Lets say for example, you are an absolute genius, but because of this you use superior English, one that your interviewer feels intimidated by, but the other guys "talks like the boys",

One thing that you can take personally, is that they really did take you seriously, and that you did command a level of respect from them, based on the amount of hours they chose to invest during your recruitment, so your skills were really on par, but more then likely had a personality clash or the other guy was the financial managers best friends cousins aunty kitten's vet.

If this oppertunity presented itself again with another organization, and it will again, take pride in your score, your accomplishments, it was just not meant to be, and you will never KNOW the exact reason.

Oh ya, that and most folk that recruit/interview for IT usually have NO CLUE what they are looking at anyway.

IT-Fella

Thank you for your reply zaleonards!

I certainly agree with all your points. Already forgot about that interview though..

Need to be able to move on quickly to not feel down about every unsuccessful interview..

Deathmage

if they call you back leverage more money from them. I agree with others though, one door closes another one opens. Look at me the past 6 months I've worked a job that was a utter failure on the part of the company I worked for, they weren't organized at all, then I went to a different company they were sort of decent but not much better. All at the same time going on interviews often until I found the right job and now I've been here about a month and it's so far the right fit.

Just keep your chin up, don't whatever you do get down on yourself. take this time to enjoy the free-time [study, read, play a video game, build a igloo (if your in boston you don't even need to build it just dig)] cause once you find a job and you will be locked in for a year till you can have a vacation. This was the mentality I had while I was looking. Make the most of even the more bleek of situations, never think negative, always think positive and you will do good and excel. Those that project positivity will be seen and will be rewarded.

Hope this helps.

colemic

dave330i wrote: »

Because experience /= knowledge/skill. I've had fair share of interviews where I've beaten out other candidates with much more experience.

This is so true. competency = knowledge + skills + behavior. I preach that people should hire for competency, not experience.

zaleonardz

And quote 'Jessi pinkman' silently to yourself, ALOT...

networker050184

colemic wrote: »

This is so true. competency = knowledge + skills + behavior. I preach that people should hire for competency, not experience.

Definitely agree, but you need some way to pull candidates out of the stack of resumes. Easiest way is to pull the ones with the most relevant experience then go from there.

colemic

Agree 100%, I meant that experience shouldn't be the only factor, which it often is.