Dear Reader,
This post is the first in a series about grave interview mistakes. If you’ve ever fumbled an interview, I hope this series makes you feel better about your own experience.
The Interview Story
But first, some terminology.
I work in the tech industry, and although these terms are second nature to me, I want to take a moment to explain them for readers who may not be familiar:
- Interview loop: A group of current employees who evaluate a candidate through a series of consecutive interviews.
- Hiring manager: Usually the manager of the team the candidate is applying to join. If the hiring manager isn’t inclined to hire the candidate, it doesn’t really matter what the rest of the interviewers think. After all, it’s the hiring manager who assumes the most risk in bringing someone on.
- Informational interview: A meeting with the hiring manager prior to the interview loop where the candidate can ask questions about the role and assess fit.
The Story
Now that the terminology is out of the way, let’s get into it.
The manager who hired me moved to a different team within a few months of my start date, which triggered a reorganization (reorg) that left me in a less-than-ideal situation. I began browsing internal job postings. Eventually, an opening caught my eye, and I scheduled an informational interview for a cloud development role, assuming it would be a low-stakes conversation where I’d ask most of the questions.
It wasn’t.
The interview went south quickly. There was nothing “informational” about it — it was a full-on interview, and I wasn’t prepared. When the hiring manager asked why I was interested in the role, I started explaining the reorg. He cut me off mid-sentence.
“I’m going to stop you right there. You’re telling a negative story. How can you reframe it into something that’s compelling to hear?”
I fumbled through a pitch about wanting to help the customer accomplish their mission. Not long after my “recovery” — if you can call it that — I hit another roadblock when he asked me to list the programming languages I knew. I’m very proficient in Python and Java, but for some reason, I said I was familiar with them.
“Familiar? What do you mean ‘familiar’? I don’t know what to do with that. Are you good at it or not?”
I thought the interview couldn’t get worse. Then came the final blow. Out of nowhere, he sent me screenshots of highly critical posts I’d made on LinkedIn about the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth (source). I opened my mouth to respond but closed it just as quickly. I was dumbstruck.
Battered and utterly humiliated, I ended the meeting by thanking him for his frankness. Even in the height of my embarrassment, I recognized that he had taught me several valuable lessons. Of course, that didn’t stop me from bursting into tears the moment I hit “End Call.”
Lessons Learned
Some lessons seem like no-brainers in hindsight:
- Keep LinkedIn professional. Critical posts belong on a different platform — one that doesn’t reflect on my professional image.
- Always be ready to sell yourself. I’ll never treat an “informational” interview as low-stakes again. If it is, great. If not, I’ll be glad I came prepared.
But I also took away a few deeper lessons:
- Honesty is a gift. If I weren’t introspective, I might’ve walked away angry or offended. But undoubtedly, it would’ve been easier for him to smile, nod, and say nothing about my performance. His directness spared me from repeating the same mistakes. I’m grateful for that.
- Find shared values. I struggled when he asked why I wanted the role. I knew he was looking for someone “customer obsessed.” Truthfully, I’m not that person (video). My job doesn’t define me, and I’m a terrible liar, so I need to reframe my answer in a way that feels authentic. For example, I might not be obsessed with customers, but as a customer, I know how disappointing it is to receive bad service. I want to work with people who are competent and professional — and I can get behind those values.
Conclusion
Believe it or not, he saw enough potential in me to move me forward to the interview loop. Although I chose a different internal opportunity (where I am now), I’m genuinely grateful for the hard lessons he taught me.
– Recovering Negative Nancy