Failed final interview round 3 times!!!

egrizzly

In the past three weeks I've interviewed with two VPs and one Director for a final round of interviews. The result was not very favorable for me as I'm still hunting for a job. This is very new for me since I'm used to always getting the job once I make it past the technical part. The interviews were for Database Administrator, Network Engineer, and Network Security Engineer respectively.

In one of the jobs I even passed a highly scrutinized HR personality and cognitive test, but once I made it to the VP I did not get a call back.

Anyway, I thought to share my experience. I'm anticipating somebody share theirs as well on how to get past a final round of interviews successfully, especially those with the VP.

BerkshireHerd

Clearly your resume is not the issue. If I can steal from Liz Ryan, the key in my opinion is finding the "pain points" and focusing the interview on how you can solve them. I always try to get the person interviewing me off their game by asking some questions. I try to control the interview, not the other way around.

Are you asking the right questions? Just like making a sale, are you asking for the job? I always ask if there are any reservations in me being about to perform the job to it's highest standards.

Hope some of this helps, I know how frustrating it can be to get so far in the process. In the past year I passed 2 phone screenings and was invited to fly down for a on site interview. I figured I was a lock for the job only to find out I got beat out by a local candidate.

DatabaseHead

Years ago I had an interview (a set of interviews) with ~8 people, one right after another.

Meet a few BA's, then what would of been my team, peer and boss, then rolled into two seniors managers office then the CTO. All was well, in fact the CTO said I think you'll miss the CIO today but you did great. Welp...... guess who just got off a heated call, the CIO. I thought the interview went well, NOPE didn't get the job and refused feedback.

F HIM

The only other situations where I didn't get the job, I felt I might of been a little too impatient to answer the questions or I may have rambled. Now that I am getting more experienced, I also notice cockiness is something I have to maintain in a interview. I've literally answered the question while they were still asking. Not good.

Bottom line is we all make mistakes even in a "perfect" interview.

volfkhat

egrizzly wrote: »

The interviews were for Database Administrator, Network Engineer, and Network Security Engineer respectively.
...
Anyway, I thought to share my experience. I'm anticipating somebody share theirs as well on how to get past a final round of interviews successfully, especially those with the VP.

Hmmmm... so...
Were these 3 interviews at the same employer?
Or were the 3 interviews at different employers?


Or, were any of the interviews with your current employer?


fwiw,
dba, netadmin, and net-security are all kinda different roles.
Were these for entry-level positions?

if not... then you may have simply been bested by a more experienced candidate.

Did you complete your bachelors last december?
Did you ever renew your ccnp?
Did you ever get any security certifications?

the only thing missing, would be experience...

fabostrong

To second what BerkshireHerd said, I think asking questions plays a big part. You can find out some things that they're big on for that position and can play on those when you're giving information about yourself.

And the truth is, it's competitive as hell out here. There's always a chance where they just liked someone better. It happens. Just keep trying.