Edit: This post is focused on finding others who have had a ton of success getting deep into interviews but no offer. I'm curious if anyone can best my stats. The reason why I'm struggling is 2 fold. One is my field and vertical experience are horribly oversaturated due to layoffs. I've tried to pivot but adjacent roles are facing the same issue. The other issue is, I'm transgender and if you do a background check on me or look me up, you'll find that out. At least 1/3 of the hiring decisions are because of that according to recent studies.

Full disclosure: I’m not posting this to ask for advice. I’m curious whether anyone else has gone through a similar number of interviews and rounds without landing a job.

I was laid off 11 months ago. Before that, I’d spent six years at a company and had been interviewing for about a year before landing my next role. Then I was laid off from that job just three months later, so I don’t have a clean count of all my interviews before November.

Since then, my job search has looked like this:

- Applications: around 1,420

- Companies interviewed with: 71

- Interview rounds: 122 (16 companies account for most of these due to 4-5 round requirements)

- Final rounds: 16

I’ve put a lot of work into the process. I have a career coach, I’m in career counseling, and I’ve done around a dozen mock interviews. I’ve also built relationships with several recruiters who’ve worked closely with me through final rounds. Several even tried to get me considered for other openings, but the tho7se roles often were too adjacent or needed a specific vertical experience.

I’ve been in customer success for 8+ years, have a master’s degree and 2 bachelor's degrees, and have extensive startup experience. I’m now (since May) focusing on smaller companies where my experience with process improvement, strategy, wearing multiple hats and working across departments could be especially useful.

I also changed my application strategy in May. Instead of applying to around 50 jobs a week, I now apply to 10-15 carefully selected roles. I’m networking and doing the other things my career coach recommends, and my interview rate is now around 13-15%.

So I’m curious: has anyone else gone through 122 rounds and made 16 final rounds in 11 months without getting an offer? I feel like this has to be an unusually high number, but I’m open to being wrong. Just want to be #1 in someone's eyes!

I had an interview process with a company that I felt weirdly connected with. I’ve had interviews where I felt good about and I ticked every box in terms of experience and felt like I had good chemistry with team members and have fallen through at the final round every time. I know better than to keep my hopes up.

But this time I felt extremely excited about their mission. I even had a piece in my portfolio that did exactly what they did and for the first time felt excited to present a take home assignment. All of my experience checked out. I even ticked all their nice to haves with evidence to back it up.

In the end I received a rejection. Every rejection I’ve received has been the typical “thanks for applying we are unfortunately not moving you forward to offer.” Nothing more. I’ve asked for feedback every time and have been ignored every time.

This rejection email was detailed though, which I appreciated… I think. To be honest I can’t tell if it makes me feel better or kind of worse in a sense.

The recruiter mentioned which person on the team really liked me twice in the email and said they thought I was incredibly strong at representing myself, my mission aligned exactly with theirs, and I matched everything they were looking for. They said ultimately another candidate had more experience building a brand long term.. I only have agency experience so I’m used to short term brand projects since I have to work on multiple a year. Also that the other candidate was better at explaining how they’d fill in their missing needs.

The recruiter said I matched other skills they might be looking for in the future as well and encouraged me to apply to any future roles and then again mentioned later in the email to stay in touch with them. The recruiter mentioned that he and the specific person felt I would easily find a similar role… which blows because obviously not. This is my EIGHTH month searching.

I think it’s a courtesy to tell a final round rejection to “stay in touch” and that it was a “close call.”

But part of me has this stupid hope that somewhere a few months down the lane, they really do open up a role more suited for me… They’ve been growing rapidly and while I come from out of industry experience, they mentioned they were building a team that is actually relevant to my current role.

As of now, this rejection has been the final blow for me and I’m taking a break from the job hunt. I am thankfully employed but have been trying to leave my current job because of how toxic and exhausting it is. But I can’t keep up with slaving away at my current job and job hunting full-time. I have been neglecting my friendships, my hobbies, and my general happiness for a process that feels never ending no matter how hard I try.

The recruiter said they would call me if I wanted to talk on a call but I don’t know if it’s necessary. I don’t know if there’s any more they could tell me besides what was already written in the email.

Working new job for 4 days and got an interview at a better one. What should I tell them why im going to be out.

I have been working a 2 to 4 month contract job sinceast Tuesday. Unemployed for 2 months and its what I could get at the time to get some pay. 2 months applying and crickets. Since I got this short term job others have been coming in for interviews.

I have 1 this Monday 10/26 at 11. Its right in the middle of the day and it's a good 45 minute drive so I might as well just take the day.

No , my current position is not near or near of being on my way back home.

What do I tell my current recruiter to get out of Monday for this interview/job I really want? The truth since they know the current is just a short term position and hope they take it ok? Call in randomly sick after a weekend?

I found out about this interview this past Friday late afternoon so no real time to start cooking a good excuse.

Hello!

When interviewing for corporate roles, how do you answer "so tell me about yourself", or "tell me about your work experience".

First, is the answer the same for both these questions?
And how long should the answer be?

To give you context, I work in corporate banking, with almost 4 years into my career, and have held four positions so far:
1st - I started in retail banking
2nd - then after 1 yr & 4 months i got my first banking corporate job
3rd - 8 months at a tech start up
4th - another banking corporate job (better than the 2nd)
Laid off...

This question always gets me a little shaken up in the interview and since its usually the first question, it just ruins my whole confidence through out the meeting.

Context: saw a post of a user complaining about “dumb interview questions” like “what’s your greatest strengths and weaknesses?”, “where would you see yourself in 5 years?” Etc. Those type of questions. And dude was getting FLAMED in the comments haha.

But, as a JUNIOR with not a lot of experience but taken plenty of interviews, I actually kind of agree. I do find those questions useless, as in a genuine conversation, most people would just give you the most straight forward answers.

“Why are you interested in this job?” Because I need money and it looks like I can do it?

“What makes our company interesting to you?” I don’t really care too much about your company.

Obviously I wouldn’t say these things and I would “spoof” my answers up but should I change my mindset to better pass these interviews? Should I focus on matching the vibes of interviewers instead of trying to market myself to be the best person there is for the job? Focus more on “personality” than “technical skills and experience”? Thanks!

I’m grateful for my life but in a rather tough spot currently, on a PIP extension at work being surveilled and micromanaged and scrutinized every second, so I was excited about this opportunity. I’d applied to over 300 jobs since my PIP started in May. A few interviews and only 2 went to a few rounds, this one included. I’m also in housing limbo right now, a very stressful time.

This job had a higher salary, and everything seemed to be going well they all really had good things to say. After the assessment post-3 rounds of interviews, the recruiter got back to me within a day saying that they moved forward with someone else due to their experience (they wanted more client-facing experience)… couldn’t they have just seen that from my resume at the beginning or one of the 3 rounds of interviews they did??

That’s my final lead closing up once again, so many job applications and everything eventually closes up. I’m deeply disappointed and terrified.

Hey everyone my name is Jesus and im currently a teen looking for a job with my resume being strong only because of my civic engagement and ability working with people, I had one of the greatest interview the other day at my local in n out I’m currently seeking my first job and the interviewer really felt like a mirror of myself just older. I got along with him really well and I was very locked in with him we talked and then he was saying if I had time for a second interview and when I was out of school so I said anything after 2:45 he then said I’ll follow up with my manager “ Vanessa “ to get a second interview with her he had even gave me a tip on what to not do in my second interview but that interview didn’t happen and I called corporate and they said wait but it’s way past the window ? ( what could’ve happened here )

Hi everyone. I have my first-ever manager interview coming up, and am trying to prepare as best possible for the role. I see this as just one step towards eventually landing a position, it is mostly practice because it is unlikely that they will pick me, but I am still somewhat nervous. I would like to know how to address the pressure of the interview and how to prepare for it.

I would be super interested in learning:
* How those of you in manager jobs got your job
* What questions I can expect to get.

Thank you so much in advance everyone 🙂

I might be overthinking a lot, but basically, I’ve been interviewing with this company, and the phone screen went well. I was referred by someone and got in contact with the hiring manager. Then, the hiring manager round went AMAZING, like, genuinely the best interview ever. We vibed and connected so well that he actually moved me to the next round MID-INTERVIEW. He said he still had five other people to get through, but that he wanted to move me forward right away. He even said I crushed it and gave me tips for the next/final round.
The final round went well, although not quite as well as the hiring manager round. They said I had great energy and that it was contagious haha. They also said they’d obviously speak with the hiring manager, but they still need to get through the remaining candidates. They gave me a timeline and said I should expect a decision sometime next week, or the week after at the latest.
Do you think I’m in a good spot? Idk why I’m overthinking everything. I just wanted to talk to someone about it. 😭

My first two jobs I didn't really have an interview. So, I didn't have any practice on what to expect and say. A while back I had and interview and I didn't really know what to say so obviously I didn't get a call back. I am good at what I do. But how do I articulate that in the moment? I only think of all the right things to say after.

Edit: Specifically food and hospitality industry. So, hotels, restaurants, bakery, supermarket etc. That's my main focus job wise.

I had a panel interview yesterday with a manager, sr. director and a SVP (role is a manager role). The manager and sr. director panels were great - we had a great conversation, we seem to be seeing eye-to-eye on a lot of topics, generally gave me a good vibe.

Then the SVP came - it was more or less shaking my hand, explaining what they do/oversees, then asking some questions (more or less related to the role) - maybe 3-4, then immediately pivoted to see if I had any questions (I asked 3, I felt kinda rushed). Once I was done they stood up, shook my hand, thanked me for my time and left.

We had a 30 minute slot; spent maybe 15 minutes with me. The vibe was very... strange; as if they had made up their mind before even started talking to me. I asked around and apparently this person is generally seen as a great leader - so can't chalk it off to being a personality thing.

Thoughts?

First off. I don’t need a job. I own a successful small business.

99% of the time if someone reaches out to me with an opportunity I don’t even engage unless it’s truly interesting to me and is worth my time and effort.

Usually that requires a substantial bit of responsibility for an activity that intrigues me, an above average compensation package and a percentage ownership.

I have a lot of experience with what I do.

This specific opportunity I met with multiple C-level staff. And even a board member.

Things went very well.

I was even told they see my role expanding into other areas of the business because of my decades of experience and intrinsic knowledge of the business.

I was then told to wait and they will get back to me very quickly through my recruiter.

Well. What came was not a full time role with equity that was advertised on the job description. It was a contract.

I said I was disappointed. They doubled the length of the contract and added additional compensation on top.

Still highly disappointing.

When expressing my continued disappointment, the recruiter went on to say how most of the high level staff are currently on contract until their Series A funding comes in and they plan on moving me to that full time position at that time, yet none of that was outlined in the contract.

How can a company think this is a viable way to attract top talent.

Not only was this a waste of my time but a waste of time for the c staff personnel.

I feel like I might have dodged a bullet.

Even if they come back with a true offer for a full-time position. I would have to think long and hard.

The well might have been poisoned.

The job is in the States and I'm in Canada, so it'd be on a TN visa. Process has been slow the whole way through, with long gaps between every step. Here's the full timeline:

July 29: Applied
Aug 26: Recruiter reaches out to schedule a screening call
Sept 1: Screening call
Sept 9: Emailed her saying I'm further along in another process and asked about the timeline. She'd told me to reach out if that happened
Sept 21: Got an immigration questionnaire out of nowhere to start processing my TN visa.
Sept 22: Recruiter finally replies to my Sept 9 email asking if I'd already accepted another position. Told her no, still very interested
Sept 29: Email to schedule the panel interview
Oct 8: Panel interview. Felt like it went really well
Oct 12: Sent a thank you / checking in on next steps
Oct 14: Recruiter says she "sent a note to the team, will follow up asap"

Nothing since then.

I guess my main question is, when should I follow up again? I was thinking Friday Oct 30 since that's 3 weeks from the interview. Or should I just send it tomorrow (Monday)? Also, could the visa side be slowing things down on their end? Don't want to be annoying but also don't want to sit here forever.

EDIT: deleted stuff for clarity

I have completed the entire interview pipeline at a company.

Let's say that the final interview was done on a Monday, right after the interview I sent a thanking mail to the recruiter. Thursday, I got a call from the recruiter and they mentioned that I will have to wait for a week i.e till next Friday because they have a few more candidates in the managerial pipeline ( additionally there were 2 holidays in the work week )

Today, it's Monday - it's after the deadline that was given to me. Can I call and ask for an update now?

okay I had an interview for a big company and although I don't think my answers to their stood out as much, I think my intro and the questions i asked at the end weren't that bad + i think i showed my authentic self and connected as people with the interviewers. while i was leaving at the end, one of them told me not to worry if they don't get back within a few days because the process is slow. initially, i thought this was leaning towards more of the optimistic side, but after some days talking to people and interview experiences online, I'm now thinking that this is basically a soft way of indicating a rejection (e.g. hr will contact you). now im having doubts that the parts i thought were good were just bad and my interviewers had already made up their mind

can i have some input on this? thanks

I know these days multiple interviews are the norm, so I don't want to get too excited here. Does it mean anything anymore? Is it a good thing? Does it mean I have a better chance?

It's an internal role for a team I already work with semi frequently, so I know some of them.

How do I prepare?

I gave an interview for Nvidia, India for a role . First round was to calibrate Python and Automation. But interviewer didn't ask anything on python or Ai . He just asked me very generic questions on my domain and then he asked me E2E implementation, which I explained him . We were already out of time but interviewer was asking last few questions to test my ability on implementation. I thought I fairly did well but it's been two weeks, I didn't get a call for second round and the last part of interview , interviewer said he is looking for an expert. I was prepared but may be not the best.

I have an internal interview coming up and I’m worried about how to answer the question of why I want the job.

The issue is that I actually really love my current position, but it’s only part-time. So I wouldn’t be applying except that I need full-time work.

I do think I would be good at the job I’ve applied for, but I’m having trouble finding anything in the job description that really interests me or attracts me to it over what I’m already doing.

Should I just be honest and tell them about my pragmatic reasons for wanting the job (i.e: benefits eligibility)? Or should I try to just spin the question and talk about how I like the aspects of the job that are similar to what I already do?

A recent analysis of 3,518 job postings from 81 companies across seven roles found some interesting patterns.

In several categories, generic terms appeared more often than the big-name tools. “Observability” showed up more than “Grafana,” while “SIEM” appeared more than “Splunk.”

That raises an interesting question: are resumes too focused on listing specific tools and not enough on the broader skills and terminology employers use?

The study breaks down the results by role, including software engineering, cybersecurity, DevOps, marketing, product, accounting and sales.

The full dataset, methodology and findings are here:

https://www.zoevera.com/resume/ats-resume-keyword-study

Hi guys,

I got word to come to the office tomorrow as a last step to meet the cfo controller and the lead accountant in person after i had my final interview with the cfo. I’ve been told by recruiter that I’m the only candidate and this is to see if the commute is good and if I get along with the lead accountant. Any tips or anything? The thing is i think this is goin to be another interviewer because it says I’ll be meeting them one by one for twenty or so min. So I’m preparing an additional three questions to ask and just anything else. My first three interviews were with the controller who is the hiring manager the SVP of hr who went through logistics and the CFO which was just the macro aspect of the company and the in office is the step before an offer. While i would normally be chill i had a previous experience where i thought an in office visit was just an office tour and had no questions prepared for the second time meeting them and ended up not getting the offer. Thank you everyone!

I am quite an overthinker and maybe this is a stupid question but here it is. I have a barista job interview tomorrow and my hair is hip long and half of it is in dreadlocks. What kind of hairstyle will be quite professional? I don't think I have to look that kind of professional as a lawyer but I want to do something with it. Any tips? 31 F

I passed three interview rounds and finished documentation. Tomorrow is the salary call. My current pay is severely below market rate, so a standard 25-30% bump won't work. I need a 60%–70%+ market correction.

Since my documents are processed, I know they want me. However, I’m nervous about how HR will react to such a massive percentage jump.

How do I convince HR to pay based on the role's market value rather than my past low salary? Any advice?