What are you thinking RIGHT NOW?

[Azdgari]

[quote="Regulus"][quote="Azdgari"][quote="Regulus"]On the bright side, today I interviewed for a position at Tesla.

On the dim side, there was no way I could have pleased someone like her. So that's another one in the trash.[/quote]
Elaborate?[/quote]

Tesla is the electric car company run by Elon Musk, and the sister company to SpaceX. They've gotten famous over the past few years, and get hundreds of thousands of applicants every year now. So, they're an extremely selective company.

Much to my surprise, I somehow managed to score an interview with them anyway.

I knew the odds were against me, but of course I wasn't going to pass up the chance. I thought, maybe, I'd be able to to really stand out in this one. Tesla is a company I've followed closely since 2010 or so; I know a lot about their cars, their mission, and their culture. I could probably write a whole book about them, and so I thought I could use that knowledge to my advantage.

The TL;DR of it is... no. Like, no way.

My technical knowledge didn't impress her at all. She just changed the subject to my work experience and kept asking questions about that. Since I know work experience is so important to some people, I was even prepared for that. I had scripted responses to follow in case this would happen. I had my arguments set up and I didn't hesitate to explain why my lack of work experience actually makes me a better candidate... but she wouldn't hear of it.

So, whatever. Typical HR shenanigans. She wouldn't even hire Elon himself, if that's who she was speaking to.[/quote]
It sounds like you probably gave a great interview at a top-tier company. I'm sorry--sometimes you do just get a garbage interviewer that's having a bad day or something, and that's frustrating. But it does nothing to diminish my perception that you're a killer candidate that's going to crush it wherever they end up.

[mamaprince]

I need to start reading some more books... but multitasking.

[Regulus]

[quote="it means no worries"]@Regs, I know you've been on the job hunt for a while now and of course it sucks being rejected, but the very fact you managed to get an interview with Tesla is pretty damn impressive, and i'm sure something good'll turn up soon. Good luck with the search![/quote]
[quote="Azdgari"]It sounds like you probably gave a great interview at a top-tier company. I'm sorry--sometimes you do just get a garbage interviewer that's having a bad day or something, and that's frustrating. But it does nothing to diminish my perception that you're a killer candidate that's going to crush it wherever they end up.[/quote]

Yeah. You're both right. I gotta admit, my emotions have been all over the place in the past couple of weeks. Since April I've doubled my number of interviews, but they've all seemed to go sour for one reason or another. So, there's been good days and bad days, ups and downs, and I've only been looking ahead to what's next.

Now, for the first time in weeks, I'm back at the beginning again. I have no more interviews scheduled, and it appears that everything I thought I had a chance at has run dry. So, here I go again, throwing out applications to see what sticks. It sucks. I hate it. But this is what I have to do.

It's a struggle.

On another note, it would be nice to know how people do actually get jobs. I've sat through many failed interviews, but I've never seen a successful one. What are other people saying to recruiters that's working so much better?

[Azdgari]

How do you sell yourself?

[mamaprince]

How am I ever going to get through this depression?

[Regulus]

[quote="Azdgari"]How do you sell yourself?[/quote]

Long response:

Spoiler: show

Each time has gone a little different. But, I've typically had the following talking points:

If asked, I give a little about my background. I state that I'm a recent graduate and list some of the (non-professional) design projects I've worked on.

I state that I'm much more curious than the average person. Most engineering students only want to be told the answer. I like to go beyond that. I like to know why. This has given me a deeper understanding of concepts and principles than the majority of students have.

If I'm asked why I want this job or what my career goals are, I explain this: "I'm looking for a job that challenges me. There are many jobs that would be very challenging, but I'm not qualified for them. I'm interested in this one because it looks like a good match for my skills and abilities. It would be challenging enough to be satisfying, but not so challenging that I could not do it with integrity."

For every position I've interviewed for, there have always been at least one or two job requirements that I've not met, or not been totally comfortable on. When it comes up, I do mention that in the interview. I'll say, "That's something I don't have much experience with, but I would look forward to learning more about it on the job." Sure, I could lie about having experience with that thing, but I don't want to do that. I'm trying to build credibility here, and I don't want to get myself into a job because I lied about skills that I don't have.

Now here's the killer, I think. In most of my interviews, I've been asked if I currently have a job, if I've ever had a job, or if I've ever had an internship. And the answer to all these questions is no. Besides being shy, this is really my biggest weakness.

It's weird. I've been told my resume is really good, even though there is no work experience listed on it. Instead, I've just listed projects. And, I've noticed, even though I've never written any work experience on an application, interviewers always seem to assume I have experience until I state otherwise. Then there's a disappointed "oh" that I hear come out of their mouth when they learn the truth. If the interview goes there, I lose a lot of confidence and struggle to answer remaining questions.

The last interview with Tesla was the only one I had a chance to explain myself, and I did that by saying:

[quote]I didn't study engineering because I thought I would end up wealthy. I don't want to work for Tesla because it would look good on my resume. Those are two things that don't interest me at all. I studied engineering because I wanted to learn about how things worked. I enjoyed solving problems--and so much so, that I didn't bother with anything else.

I know Tesla has a high turnover rate, and I understand why. Many of my fellow engineering students don't have the same natural curiosity that I have. They're in it for the money. I know this isn't supposed to be a technical interview, but if it was, that's where I would stand out among other applicants. My resume is good, but it's not great. I didn't care about making it great. I haven't had any fancy titles or worked at any prestigious companies. I didn't even go to career mixers. Internships and professional networking were things that I just never considered to be a priority. Instead, I spent my time learning, studying, and developing a deep understanding of technical subjects. That's what I've cared about, and that's what I've always been interested in. And, I think that would become apparent if my technical knowledge is put to the test.[/quote]

In truth, there are numerous reasons why I haven't worked. I didn't need to; my tuition was fully paid for. I didn't have any desire to; I preferred having free time outside of engineering school. And, if I had wanted a job just for the fun of it, I'd still have all the same problems I'm having now, because getting a job is no easy task even when I'm dedicating my life to it.

I had tried getting internships, but I never took it seriously enough. For what it's worth, I didn't even have professional clothes to wear to an interview until my senior year. I procrastinated on all that, as it was something I had wanted, but something I had set very far down on my priority list. I had no idea it would be a gatekeeper, else I would have done so many things differently.

But I can't do anything about that now.

Anyway, I have a few ideas already for how I can improve. I was thinking of starting off the interviews by asking why the person decided to reach out to me. This could help me by doing two things. It would give me confidence in knowing that something I wrote on my resume impressed them, and it would give me a bit of an idea on what part of my background I should talk about.

Another idea: I should ask the person what problems someone in the position could solve. More than likely, they're an HR person that can't answer anything detailed in any sort of way. But if they can, that would give me the opportunity to either describe how I could help, describe something similar that I did, or at least say, "that sounds interesting."

[mamaprince]

I really need to get my life back in order.

[SimbasMate]

Never thought I'd ever have this gold in my life before.

[mamaprince]

This guy really likes me.

[Panda-chan]

Please, please, at least open your eyes. If you have to go now, I want you to at least know I’m here...