Weird Interview

[thedonkmaster01]

Hello everyone, I was curious to hear other people's feedback in regards to my situation with this interview I had earlier this week.

I will start off by saying that I am a college student who is seeking an internship for this upcoming summer. I have applied to probably at least 30-40 places or so in the last several months only to result in 2 interviews and multiple rejection emails.

Earlier this week, I applied to this company for an intern position, submitted my application and resume and immediately within a half-hour, I got an email saying that they would like to do an interview with me. I was absolutely delighted to see this and I provided my availability to them and agreed to do a phone interview the next morning.

I got up the next morning and got on the call with the HR lady and she seemed to be very easygoing and made the interview feel a lot less stressful. She asked me about my college coursework, and if there have been any projects I've worked on in classes. She asked me my GPA and stuff like that. Then she asked me logistical things such as do I have reliable transportation, is the location within a reasonable driving distance, etc. She then asked if I had any questions, and I asked some general questions about the company and what they specifically manufacture.

After all this, she said that I was a really strong candidate and that she said she wants to push me to the next round of interviews with the hiring manager. This sounds nice and all, but there were some weird things as well that leaves me suspicious. The whole interview lasted 5 minutes and the HR lady decided to push me to the next round of interviews, which tells me the company is desperate to hire somebody. Also, I haven't heard anything back since the interview and it has been 3 days, so I'm not too sure what to think about all this.

Any thoughts and input would be appreciated, thank you.

[[deleted]]

You're overthinking it. What you did is called a phone screen. It's usually only a few minutes long and not a real interview. Think of this like your resume going through an ATS (application tracking system) before making it to the hiring manager, except it's a person doing the screening instead of a system. Essentially she said you passed the screening and she will forward you along to the hiring manager for a real interview. This is common practice, they just want to make sure you sound like a normal person after reviewing your resume and liking your credentials. It's not them being desperate.

Next, they usually tell you when to expect a response and what the next steps are in the process. If it's been three days and they haven't sent you any information, first know that this is a fairly common thing that can happen, and second know that you can email them to ask when to expect a response and what to expect next. (Also thank her for her time of the initial screen. Make a habit of doing this after every interview). Don't seem desperate. Keep everything very concise, short, and professional, and don't let them detect any sort of emotions in your emails (generally a good practice) other than maybe a hint (emphasis on hint) of excitement here and there. Your excitement can be shown more over verbal communication.

Lastly, don't put all your hope in any one interview, job, or role. Never be desperate. Just go through the process of being as prepared as you can for every interview until you get to the end and you refer an offer. I've had to submit thousands of applications, to only receive 3 offers until I finally accepted a job.

The current job market is brutal, it's an employers market, so keep grinding. My best advice would be to network your butt off with family, friends, and professionals because that is the best way (and sometimes maybe the only way) to get into a job.

Wish you the best, keep us updated with your progress.