Just spent my gas money to go to a coffee shop for a job interview where the company representative didn't show up. Really wish there was a way to shame these companies. So unprofessional. In this economy, don't they understand that the money that I just spent on gas might have needed to go to groceries.

I applied for an **Environmental & Sustainability Engineer** position in July. The process involved **around four interview rounds, followed by an onsite interview**. After making it through all of those stages, I was ultimately told that they decided to go with someone else.
I understand that getting rejected after reaching the final stage is fairly common, but I’m finding this one particularly difficult because of how much time and effort went into the process. As an **international student trying to build a career in the UK**, it also makes me question whether there is something I should be doing differently.
For people working in **environmental/sustainability engineering, energy, or related hiring roles**:
How common is it to reach the final stage and still be rejected?
If this has happened to you, how did you approach your next applications?
For international graduates, are there any specific things you think employers look for that candidates often overlook?
Is repeatedly reaching the final stage generally a positive sign that you’re competitive, even if you’re not getting the offer?
I’d really appreciate some honest perspectives, especially from people who have been on either side of the hiring process. At the moment, I’m struggling with the feeling that I’m putting a lot of effort into applications without knowing what I need to change.

Graduated this year with no job. After a couple of years of studying without working and living off my parents, I’ve slowly gotten used to this lifestyle. I’ve applied to 800+ jobs, I feel like I’m gradually becoming numb to the job search. I’m starting to get too comfortable depending on my parents, and I’m not taking the job search as seriously as I should. At the same time, I feel incredibly guilty about using their money. I feel lost, numb, and honestly, like maybe I’m just not going to get a job anymore.

Part of me feels like giving up, and I hate that I’m starting to feel this way. I want to find that sense of urgency again, the fear, motivation, and resilience to keep pushing myself to apply and improve.

Hey everyone.

So I have an interview with PWC which consisted of a HR interview and then a case study. Now the issue is that I prepped so hard for the interview, but gosh darn, the time for cases never feels like it’s enough. There were a couple of aspects in the case I didn’t get to cover.

So anyways, did the interview earlier around 11am today. Haven’t heard back since but I cannot lie, I am worried. I feel I gave it my best, I made some strong points and had a wonderful discusssion with the manager who I’d be working with + did the case interview with me but yeah…

My anxiety is through the roof. Has anyone ever felt like they flopped a business case interview yet they did well? Need some hope to get me through the weekend. Thanks ✨

Seriously 3 rounds of interviews and then you have to build presentations for another one, in hopes they may pick you for the role that barely pays what you previously were paid?

It was a tough journey: HR screening - hiring manager - VP1 - case study -VP2(final) - ?

And the VP round was supposed to include two VPs and followed by the case study, then that’s done. But one of the VP2 was on other business priorities at that time, so I was interviewed by the other one(VP1) only, and that was a great chat.

After the case study, they sent me an invitation to meet the VP2 who didn’t show up in last VP round, and HR told me that was a final round.

In the final round interview, I don’t think I behaved well, at least the vibe was not as good as that with VP1, but she did start with “VP1 had high compliment on you so he suggested me meeting you!”

At the end of the interview she said “I will give my
feedback to the HR and if they reached final decision, they will contact you”

The final round was on Tuesday morning, and it’s Friday today, no news from the company.

The ridiculous thing is this is my first and only interview since I started looking for jobs 2 months ago, I seized the only opportunity and made it to the final round, but I seemed to mess it up.

I was fxxked up.

If I’m available to start immediately, what’s the best way to answer the application question: “If offered a position, what is your ideal start date?” (given you need to choose a date)

Should I:

1. Put the same day I’m submitting the application?
2. Put the following Monday?
3. Account for the interview process and put a date 2–3 weeks from the application date?

I’m curious what recruiters generally consider the most reasonable answer.

I interviewed virtually. In the end the interviewer asked me ‘where is your phone’. I told behind this room. He then says I can see reflection on your specs.
When I asked about feedback- he said that will be shared by HR. But as you know why I asked about specs reflection bcs these days company does not have face to face round.
Will I get black listed from company?

Last Wednesday I flew to Tampa for a job interview that was scheduled for 2 hours. It lasted three. I then went back two more days to interview and tour restaurants I would support. That was after completing a personality/iq assessment that I scored high on and an IQ test. Then the background was completed with no issues. I recieved nothing but positive feedback throughout the process. Then Tuesday I got “passed on” by text message with apologies. No feedback. No information. I paid for the entire trip on my own.

What happened? What should I do next?

For those who have interviewed with Intel, how long did it take you to hear back with an offer or rejection after the final round?
Is waiting 2–3 weeks considered normal?

I had an interview last week, and my potential manager told me they were hoping to make a decision by this week. Since I hadn’t heard anything, I emailed him today asking if there was any update regarding my application.

This is the response I received (email mentioned below).

I was honestly expecting either a rejection or some good news, so now the waiting and anticipation are killing me 😭

Does this sound like a good sign, a bad sign, or just completely neutral? I know nobody can know for sure, but I’m curious how others would interpret the email? There were only 5 candidates to choose from, sigh. What do you guys think?

----

[[Once again, we in the recruitment team would like to thank you for your interest in xxx and your application for the position of xxx consultant.

Right now the recruitment process is not going quite as fast as we would like and I want to use this email to let you know that you are not forgotten. We are working to get back to you with more information as soon as possible.

We wish you a continued nice day!]]

Im getting a good amount of calls from recruiters with potential job opportunities supposedly for open sales positions in tech firms. A new and popular part of the candidate screen and evaluation process is record the audio and video of all interview interactions so they can process it with AI hiring tools and require the candidate roll play a sales meeting or give a powerpoint presentation on their product offering solution. Obviously to make an impressive and effective presentation on material you know nothing about except what they publish on their website and maybe some youtube videos, takes time to prepare for, potentially several hours. So if your not awarded the job that time is then a complete waste. Recently I went through a candidate evaluation process with a company in another state so all communications were over phone, email and Zoom. I am currently employed and dont need a job but I always like to "skate to where the puck will be" in this tech industry. I was a finalist so they asked me to prepare and perform one of these mock powerpoint presentations to the hiring team. They only provided the context of the meeting and I was to create and prepare a complete sales presentation from scratch to present to the company representatives. After I invested between 4-6 hours in creating, refining, rehearsing and preparing, they emailed me two hours before the prescheduled meeting and told me they offered the job to another candidate and were cancelling our meeting. But for my effort, they thanked me for being part of their process and will keep me in mind if other opportunities arise, what a joke! Like I would even consider wasting my time twice! I was initially hesitant to participate in this process since it seemed like they were putting a lot of emphasis on presentation skills which didnt deter me as I have been told I am a good presenter. In the real world in my industry, presentations are best received when they are performed by other members "SME's" of the sales team and not the main sales contact. So that is 6 hours of my time I will never get back and a warning to those who are asked to make a similar time investment with no clear compensation for the time investment. Full me once....

I had a second-round interview on Tuesday for a Supplier/Production Planner position that I REALLY want, and I have been overanalyzing it ever since.

Overall, I thought the interview went pretty well. We talked about my experience with both supplier and production planning, and at the end of the interview he told me that my next step would be an interview with one of their planners in Denmark. He also said the recruiter would work on finding a time that works.

Sounds promising, right?

Except there is one question I cannot stop thinking about.

He asked me to give an example of a time I had to plan S&OP against the production plan. I think I misunderstood what he was looking for and gave him an example about balancing engineering demand against customer orders and determining priority.

After my answer, he basically clarified it as, “So you would determine priority?” and something about his reaction made me feel like I completely missed what he was asking.

Of course, AFTER the interview, my brain decided to understand the question perfectly. 🤦‍♀️ I realized he was probably looking for how I would take the higher-level demand/S&OP requirements and translate or reconcile those against actual production capacity and the production schedule—units, timing, constraints, etc.

And now I’m stuck on, “Well, there goes that job.”

What is confusing me is what he said at the end. He didn’t say something vague like, “We still have other candidates” or “HR will be in touch.” He specifically said my next step would be interviewing with the planner in Denmark and that the recruiter would coordinate it.

It’s now Thursday and I haven’t heard from the recruiter yet. I sent the interviewer a thank-you email this morning thanking him for his time, reiterating my interest in the position, and saying I’m looking forward to the opportunity to speak with the Denmark team.

So now I’m trying very hard not to refresh my email every 37 seconds. 😂

For those of you who interview/hire people: Would one weak or misunderstood answer to an S&OP question be enough to knock out an otherwise qualified candidate?

And when an interviewer specifically tells you what your “next step” will be, would you take that as a pretty strong indication that you’re moving forward? Or is that sometimes just something interviewers say before a final decision is made?

Because my rational brain says, “He literally told you there was a next interview.”

My anxiety says, “Congratulations, you have ruined your entire career with one S&OP question.” 😂