To ignore this interview feedback?

[Terribleluck]

If anybody has been following my misfortunes, I've applied to a substantial number of jobs and have gotten to final / higher interview stages. I've gone through the whole process with most of the prospective employers of the first wave and while some feedback is helpful: -not following the STAR system, -not being able to explain my experience to audiences from a different industries. Other feedback has been not as helpful, for the following companies I made it through 3rd and 4th stage interviews to tell me "I didn't have the competencies needed". The last one, which is the one I'm thinking of ignoring in full even suggests I look for completely different types of jobs (mind you I've gone for that type of role too and got rejected saying I didn't fit that profile either!) I know this last cycle I most likely failed it because of language skills, but instead of saying that, they came up with that conclusion of "wrong type of job". Mind you I met with the hiring manager two weeks BEFORE I had the interview in French (which was for the part chit chat), so I'm sure if my profile was not the best for that team, they definitely would have figured that out before wasting the 4th interviewer's time. It's also annoying because it's going against my whole "tactical gameplay" for getting a job.

Forgot to add there were no competency based questions in that interview, and I've hold similar roles for the past two years, with very good feedback from clients. Someone in the field thinks the HM misread me and to some extent I was "mis-coached" by the internal recruiter.

You can ignore whatever feedback you like. However if you’ve gotten through to that many interviews and not got a job yet you probably my do need to carefully think about every bit of feedback as there is obviously something going wrong here.

You do have a point, but the MAIN problem is that at least two pieces of feedback contradict each other. The other two do complement each other, the fifth one is nor here nor there, because I alwa FC cc jys new I couldn't that job, but felt I was helping the recruiter above anything else.

I've given that feedback before where it's become clear in the interview that they're not as experienced as their cv suggests or not in the right ways. Eg they talked about working with data, we assumed they had data skills, they meant that has used the findings someone else had done etc!

I think if the communication is not effective enough between the interviewer and interviewee then the skills you have won't be communicated effectively.

Since communication is a two way thing the fault could be on either side. However, the question to ask is, is there anything you can do yourself to make the communication more effective? Because that is where the power lies, here, with yourself.

@polmuggle would you have moved them to the next stage regardless? That's what's really hard to understand for me. They said they thought my skills were more suited for "business operations". Business operations HM said I didn't have the skills so (different companies obviously).

Not if it came out at 1st interview but if it came out at 3rd/4th yes.

Or, as we've also done, if you have two strong candidates but one would also suit another department, we'd take the one suited just for us and recommend the other to another team. That way the business might get two people. But no controlling what the other team think/do and they might not agree with our assessment

I'm getting some interview coaching on Monday, as I have a second and final interview on the 1st.

Thanks @Pol that makes some sense. I originally applied for a different role, but the internal recruiter put me forward for a different one. They're very much related, but there are some differences

Your clearly showing potential during the application and early interview stages, so you must clearly have the potential to do the job.
I would suspect that in the later interview stages they are really going to be testing those competencies. They will be looking for quite in depth answer in a structured format with a lot of detail.
I have had interview coaching and found that my strong answers in competency based questions lasted 5 mins and I could have kept going, the interviewers had so much detail I had very few probing questions from them. I passed my last few assessments/ interviews following the coaching. The structure I used was even more detailed than the star structure.

It’s all bollocks really. I applied for a job with a Big Four firm, having worked in professional services all my life (30 years at that point). The job was exactly what I’d done previously in another Big Four firm. Feedback was “not enough experience”.
I was so cross I phoned the HR lead who had been in the interview and asked why I had been shortlisted and interviewed based on my CV if I didn’t have enough experience (which was obviously listed on the CV). Her huffed and puffed and couldn’t answer. Clearly had sent out a standard feedback letter. Lazy.

The oddest thing @Rita is that that interview cycle had no competency based questions. It was all very informal, and looked at my background and where I wanted to head in my career. I did say I wanted to make a lateral move eventually, so maybe that was the wrong answer, but the recruiter seemed to think that was ok to say (when I interviewed with him).

I haven't seen your previous threads, but let's unpick this.

1. First interview will be HR to check basics, that one doesn't count
2. Second interview may be someone junior, not uncommon to pass up a "maybe" 3/4) I don't like more than a third interview, that should be the confirmation call. Sometimes if people like somebody as a person but they don't fit the role and the company has lots of recruitment gaps then they get passed between teams to see if they might fit elsewhere. Could that have happened here?

It sounds overall like you're applying rather scattergun style, because you are very keen to progress, but then your skills are coming up a bit short. What was your previous role (roughly)? What's most important in the promotion to you; is it money, role content or just taking the seniority step? Depending on what it is, the advice on role type will be different.

@MRex

I haven't seen your previous threads, but let's unpick this.

1. First interview will be HR to check basics, that one doesn't count
2. Second interview may be someone junior, not uncommon to pass up a "maybe" 3/4) I don't like more than a third interview, that should be the confirmation call. Sometimes if people like somebody as a person but they don't fit the role and the company has lots of recruitment gaps then they get passed between teams to see if they might fit elsewhere. Could that have happened here?

It sounds overall like you're applying rather scattergun style, because you are very keen to progress, but then your skills are coming up a bit short. What was your previous role (roughly)? What's most important in the promotion to you; is it money, role content or just taking the seniority step? Depending on what it is, the advice on role type will be different.

3rd interview was with hiring manager and 4th was a chat in French with French speaking team member.

I've had 10 years now of professional experience.

The first 3-4 are fairly niche and have to do with process in that company (content moderation).

The other three (within that company) I became their outsourcing manager.

Then I moved to Account/Biz Dev and eventually I was poached under false pretences..

My last role was as a CSM, not exactly what I was looking for but that's what became of the role, but I actually like it.

For CSM they usually do take into account my AM experience, my previous years they see at as a bonus that I worked in fast-paced / tech environments.

For me right now the most important things are company culture fit and salary, career prospects is a close this, but I can live without that one.

I hate competency based questions. STARbis such bull&shit. You can just make up scenarios. Plus often they don't actually assess what you can actually do just some stupid situation where you managed to prioritise an important task over tidying your desk!

@Tara I'm not a fan, I've never used them when hiring people.

The main problem is that that feedback has knocked my confidence a bit and today I have the first interview at a company where I think I have every single chance to shine.

CSM can be a bit of a dead end; theoretically there's call centre manager and operations manager roles, but with loads of people having CSM background it's a real challenge not to get stuck. If salary matters most, then you'll probably get more salary back in more senior / larger company AM and BD roles. What's important to remember whatever the role is, is that the hiring manager wants to hear the story of how you got there (showing relevant experience), why you want the job (some passion for an aspect of it, but you can include filling experience gaps) and make sure your next steps will suit. Sometimes they want someone who'll be ready to promote, other times they want somebody to stick in the job; talking about a sideways step won't usually work unless it's written into the company management plans to do multiple departments.

@MRex CSM as in "customer success manager" rather than "customer service manager/management". The former pays within the range I want and can move into Product Management or Customer Experience, both type of roles are something I'd really enjoy.

I’ve not read your previous threads. But here is one thing I would say. The feedback may not be the real reasons they didn’t progress you further. And it is far easier to say lack of competencies or wrong job than to say they don’t think you are the right person/personality for the role or that you won’t fit into the team well or they think they would find you annoying. Partly because it sounds more like a personal criticism and partly because risks opening up complaints about race/sex/age etc.

Posted too early. So therefore whilst you should critically assess the feedback and reflect on it, don’t take it as gospel. Even if genuine and well meaning it is only one person’s view.

The way I see it, is that I want this next job to be a stepping stone back to my level of seniority, it doesn't have to be on the same level, but also don't want to start from scratch (again!) And even then I don't think I'd be against staying in this role for the next five years at all, I actually do enjoy this type of roles.

Take it or leave it

You have taken on board precious feedback and it’s not given you any positive results

So maybe ignoring this will end on something positive!

Either way - I think you need to reconsider your strategy in terms of what jobs you are applying for and their suitability

Thank you @atleastpretend I really needed to read that :)

I thought you were a scrum master OP based on your laptop thread..?