4 candidates, 1 role, smashed the interviews.. chances of success?

[anyonegotacrystalball4]

I know this is a really difficult question to answer but it's very stuck in my head!

I'm applying for my dream job and have had two very promising interviews, nailed the task set for me and had very good feedback on what a strong candidate I am.

There are three other candidates in the pool and I don't know anything about them. What would you say are the chances of success in this scenario if all members of the interview panel loved your CV and performance in interview.

Is it likely this could happen across the board, or is it a sign you're a strong contender?

My stomach is in knots waiting for the outcome, so please humour me with what your view is on this one!

Good luck op but I'm not honestly sure you can tell from just having a good interview. I recently got my dream job and I felt certain I'd messed it up in half the tasks and the interview ( 4 tasks in total). I can only assume they could see through my nerves and from what I'd outlined in my application that I was the right person for the job. In my opinion the other 3 candidates seemed equally good and much more confident than me.

Waiting for news is such torture! I can understand why you'd want to somehow quantify your chances of success, that's exactly the sort of thing I do. But it totally depends who else is in the running and other factors beyond your control. I really hope you get it, and at least you smashed the interview.

I once applied for a job with 300 applicants and got through to the last four. There were two posts. I didn’t get offered one. When I asked for feedback they said blithely “ you ranked second after ms X but we wanted a male and a female so mr Y got the second job”
Nowadays I would have slammed them with a sex discrimination case but in the 1980s I just sucked it up.
Sometimes there are factors at work you cannot see. Fingers crossed they work in your favour. Good luck!

@SurprisedWithAHorse yes, I’ve taken pride, and been proud of myself before, but I tend not to say that to people. I let them make their own decisions on whether I’ve done something well.

As I said, it’s impossible to be a personal insult and I don’t know this person, but from my experience of interviewing people who think they’re doing really well and outwardly say so, that’s how it came across. If other people don’t think so, that’s fine. But trying to invalidate what is essentially someone else’s opinion is pretty ridiculous of a lot of the posters in here.

wow, I was trying to be nice. I sympathised because waiting for an answer is painful.

No one is asking you to "randomly" apply to everything and waste everybody's time.

If you want me to be clearer: if you come across as desperate or too confident it's in the bag, it's not a good look either. If you are happy where you are, you don't need the job, it doesn't matter anyway does it?

Hopefully the role will go to the candidate who is the most motivated and best at it.

Aww good luck I hope you get it. I can remember those days, the limbo while you are waiting for news. Keeping everything crossed for you OP. But if you don’t, something else with come up, that will be an even better fit. Because that’s life. Good luck.

Since you don't know the OP, why make the comments that you did? Completely unnecessary and it really does speak volumes that women are not ever allowed free rein of their feelings for fear that some other woman will slap her down.

It would think it’s yours @anyonegotacrystalball4! Sounds really promising and I will keep things crossed for you!

(other posters- of course nobody can tell really but OP sounds like she has done a brilliant job of the selection process and if she was my real life friend I would be just as positive as the first bit of my post- @anyonegotacrystalball4 deserves some support.)

Unfortunately it can be really hard to tell, so your chances really are probably 25%.

I had an interview last year where I had great rapport with the interview panel, but I didn't get the job. I actually interviewed again for another role within the organisation and got that, despite feeling less rapport with the panel that time. I now work with 2 of the 3 that were on the first panel and we get on really well, so the rapport was really there, just someone else gave better answers than me.

Best of luck OP.

It's not 25% though is it? They don't interview 4 people and then draw lots or run a raffle to see who to pick. They pick the one they want most. So it's either a 100% chance or 0%, depending on whether they want to give you the job or not. You can't read any more into it than that. There may be someone they know who was always going to get the job but they had to go through the motions of doing a "fair" process.

25%

I’ve smashed interviews before and been told specifically that I’m the strongest candidate they’ve interviewed.
But I still didn’t get offered the position.

One (TA position) was because they were looking for someone long term and as my experience/qualifications was more than what they was asking they couldn’t take the risk of me leaving after a short while.

Another one (teacher position in a PRU) was because the students were so challenging that they had a big turnover of staff. And they chose to go for a TA who hadn’t done their teacher training yet as they’d been in a PRU before, over me who was a qualified teacher and had lots of SEN and mainstream experience, because the TA was more likely to stay.

I got a job that I didn’t do great in the interview.
I was by far the weakest candidate when it came to experience and qualifications. The bud had also broken down and so I had to get a taxi and wait for it in the pouring rain and I slipped and fell face first in mud.
So I was soaking wet, covered in mud, mascara running down my face and I was late but I got the job because they felt my personality would fit in well and they’d rather that and train me up, than someone who’s personality didn’t fit but had the qualifications.

Good luck OP.
What will be will be.

yes, I’ve taken pride, and been proud of myself before, but I tend not to say that to people.

But you will try to pull other people down for expressing the same positive feelings you have? Don't know why you think that's better.

I’ve everything crossed for you and it sounds as though you’ve absolutely given it your best shot. The risks are more likely to be - another candidate is a friend of one of the hiring team/went to the same school/Uni as the big boss, one of them fancied one of the candidates (shouldn’t happen but it does)…that sort of thing. I went to an interview and was down to the last two - it was me and a man. I got the job but my male boss told me later he really wanted to give it to the man as they supported the same football team but he just wasn’t good enough at the final hurdle - you just don’t know what else is in play 🤷‍♀️

What a shitty post.

Are you so mealy-mouthed in real life?

OP - it's brilliant that you've interviewed for a job you'd love, and you're happy with the way the interviews went.

The absolute best of luck. It's always in the lap of the gods as there are so many unknown criteria you just don't have sight of, but you know you've shown you're a great candidate and that's all you can do x

I'd worry that you are an interviewer who is biased.

And who makes hiring decisions based on where the like the candidate or not. I'd also worry that you might use your position to unduly influence the interview panel. I hope I'm wrong.

Confidence, or the outward show of it, is an asset for most jobs - certainly anything where you'll be dealing with people, internally or externally.

@anyonegotacrystalball4

I think another factor to bear in mind is that they may be recruiting via a prescriptive marking system that may mean even if your interview was brilliant it may not pull you far enough ahead.

So (stupid simplistic example) say marks are given out of 10 for CV generally, out of 10 for prior relevant experience and out of 10 for the interview. If one candidate scores 9 or 10 in both CV and experience, and another is good but average, then even a stellar interview won't pull them ahead enough.

I had this experience once - had an awesome interview, didn't get it and was v. surprised. Called for feedback and it turned out that on their recruitement scheme although I was good enough to be interviewed, I was never going to be at the top of the pile because certain other CV/assessment factors were so heavily weighted. basically unless other candidates had stabbed the interviewer in the interview, I wasn't going to get it no matter how great my own interview.

Good luck OP x

Please ignore the shitty responses, if you’re looking for support to be honest I wouldn’t seek it here. I’ve just come back from a battering myself having expressed a different opinion on a different thread.

I have no idea but good luck! Hope you get it

I've smashed an interview before, had great relevant experience, the interviewers were really impressed etc. ... anddddd I didn't get the job. You'll have to wait and see.

Mumsnet is such a misery. Please don’t take this post as a barometer how normal people would react. It actually made me feel a bit ill reading through the first page I had to skip to the end.

You should be really proud of yourself - regardless of the outcome. It sounds like you’ve surprised yourself by how well you’ve done and you’re riding on a high - don’t let others here bring you off that. I hope you get the job and honestly don’t let this thread ruin a bit of your good day today - normal happy people don’t chomping at the bit to drag strangers on the internet who have had a good day calling them arrogant for being a bit excited (wtf)

I hope you update and you’ve got the job!

Tbh, I think men on the whole wouldn't be any better towards a woman who was feeling confident professionally.

Say every day:
“ I am good enough, in fact I am brilliant and I am allowed to feel confident in my success and share positive feedback about myself without shame”

As an addition totally then say F U to the ridiculous haters on here.

I for one am glad you know you smashed it - you must own it @anyonegotacrystalball4

Why are we NOT ALLOWED TO OWN OUR POWER ?

YOU ARE GETTING THAT JOB.

OP I think it's always a great sign if you build rapport and can have a laugh during an interview. I also think that if you have a good feeling about your interview, that's generally a good sign. Like you said, perhaps they were the same with everyone but if I were in your situation, I'd be feeling pretty optimistic 😊 particularly knowing that all candidates are external applicants