# Upset After Job Interview



## ArtemisPrime (Sep 24, 2016)

I was really excited to apply for a patient service position at an alternative medicine treatment facility, part of a small but thriving chain. I would have been working in a meaningful capacity that mixed sales with providing patients with treatments and products that mean a lot to me, and which the company provided all necessary training in. 

My social anxiety has gotten a lot better over the years, and between my enthusiasm about the job and extensive experience in customer service and this particular product, I knew I wouldn't have any problem being the kind of engaged and high energy looking person they have on the front lines.

Job interviews are a different story. For this one, I prepared A LOT but was definitely still nervous when I showed up. 

There were multiple applicants doing rotating interviews with different higher ups in the company, so ultimately everyone's experience was different (I looked up studies on job interviews and all statistical studies show that irregularly structured job interviews utterly fail at predicting performance, with short and spontaneous interviews where each person is asked different questions in different orders being the least effective in particular).

Just my luck, my first interview is with the CEO. What kind of CEO feels the need to interview the lowest level, least paid employees? I had no idea I wouldn't just be meeting with store managers. I'd interviewed and worked in low level positions at other multi-million companies, but never been somewhere a CEO bothered with such work, so it kind of threw me off. He was not a very likeable guy and started throwing pressure interview tactics at me right out of the gate: constantly interrupting me and such, but I knew that he was just testing me, and thought I handled it well although it felt like a rocky start.

Next up, they hurry me away from the CEO before I felt like there was any chance to get a rhythm going in the conversation or ask questions, and even worse, for the next thing I get taken into a small room with only a manager and asked to do: a role play. 

Nothing terrifies me more than acting. I don't do stages. I don't pretend. I don't perform. I was not applying for an acting position. I was applying to give friendly and knowledgable service about something that makes me really excited, at an establishment I long frequented as a patient and so was very comfortable at. Not at all socially anxious on the sales floor. I know the patients. I know the front line staff. I have rapport with everyone I see regularly, and both patients and staff already know my name and smile when they see me, so I didn't see how I had anything to prove about my ability to be "high energy" and form relationships with individual patients, some of whom I already had done so with. I generally felt that this three minute skit which in itself is a huge anxiety trigger was not a fair way to measure my demeanor on the sales floor. I am really frustrated by this and almost want to say this "role play" thing they do in interviews discriminates against People with SA.

So, in this skit, I had to pretend to be a generic sales person at any old retail establishment. In this case, I was supposed to be selling her a watch. She gave me a confusing explanation about how they were not a sales driven company before asking me to do this sales role play, and again didn't give me time to ask questions or clarifications before starting. Between her mixed messages, the CEO being intense, and being in this cramped room with a stranger being asked to pretend that pens are watches while she does a terrible impersonation of a customer, I stiffened up and gave a very underwhelming performance.

A week later I get a call from the CEO (why the CEO?! I found this very insincere, like he was trying to make me feel special because he knew I was a regular patron because I know that's part of his marketing philosophy). He said I did very well in all the interviews but did not do well on the role play and so they couldn't hire me. 

I was so mad. All the skit showed is that I am a bad and anxious actor. But I was not applying to act in a skit in a cramped room selling watches, I was applying to be in a position that was based on my ability to geek out about something I love and convey enthusiasm.

I am so frustrated. I feel like that role play requirement is just there to torment people with social anxiety, and job interviews in general. I know I would have done extremely well in that position. I have worked so hard to overcome my social anxiety to the point where I can do a job like that, especially if it pays well (it would have). I feel like so much interview pressure, not to mention the ineffective measure of performance it is, violates my right to reasonable accommodation as a person with a disorder.

I am so mad. I don't even want to go there any more. They invited me to apply for other positions, but I'm not sure I would want to anymore, especially because after meeting their CEO I am a little scared he might be some terrible micromanager constantly hovering over people's shoulders, which certainly won't make me feel comfortable. He also seemed like he was all about the money and not about the treatments or caregiving. He is a former banker with an aggressive and controlling attitude.

Urgh. Thoughts? Words of support? Anyone else had a similar experience?


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## Bad Wahsabi (Sep 5, 2016)

Be glad you didn't get the job, any company that requires you to role play don't know crap about customer service. Aggressive sales tactics will only turn people away in the long run. They think that only loud extroverted people can do sales positions but I read a study that introverted people tend to outperform extroverts. 

Don't feel discourage OP, you seem to have a good handle with interviews. Sometimes you have nut jobs that require you to do ridiculous things that don't even pertain to your job.


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## ArtemisPrime (Sep 24, 2016)

Bad Wahsabi said:


> Be glad you didn't get the job, any company that requires you to role play don't know crap about customer service. Aggressive sales tactics will only turn people away in the long run. They think that only loud extroverted people can do sales positions but I read a study that introverted people tend to outperform extroverts.


That's the truth. It's funny because after seeing the backside of their sales operation that's exactly ehats happening: me turning away... I do like a lot of the staff---it's part of the reason I wanted the job, I would have made good friends, which I need---but some DO ring very false (loudly, literally) and I don't like talking to them. It's even funnier because the ones I do like seem to be the least loud and fake or any higher energy than me so I kind of wonder how they even got the job. One guy always mumbles. Guess it's just more proof their screening process don't mean **** and that they're not so much interested in hiring for people who can be their natural enthusiastic selves as interested in hiring people who can LOOK like it on command.



> Don't feel discourage OP, you seem to have a good handle with interviews. Sometimes you have nut jobs that require you to do ridiculous things that don't even pertain to your job.


Thanks! I do feel pretty good about myself atm tbh... Self-aggrandizement i know, but my Zoloft is really starting to kick in... I feel more confident and assertive than ever, so it's even dumber that I didn't get that job.

Speaking of which, I am a doctor-referred patient with demonstrable need for the treatment at that place and its part of the reason I am doing better these days. I know more about what patients want and feel than those stupid sales managers ever will. In retrospect I feel kind of insulted that a sales manager did this stereotyped impression of a patient as the second part of that skit. It utterly failed to generate any sympathy or concern from me the way a real patient would, and mostly made me feel disconcerted that part of the management evidently encourages it's staff to fake kindness rather than build genuine rapport.

And speaking as a patient, I A) don't want to have to deal with a trained facade that's more or less socially engineered to solicit a reaction because that's extremely manipulative and unethical and B) the last thing a patient in pain needs is some artificially happy corporate goon getting in their face. That is a terrible way to build rapport. Unfortunately it's the nature of the state I live in: super regulated and based on using big money out-of-state corporate contracts to provide health services (supposedly it's non-profit but all that means is the higher ups can take as much money as they want in the form of pay checks written by themselves without having shareholders to worry about).

Speaking about feeling more assertive... There is one very empathetic and kind woman who is a lower-ranking director there, who is NOT a business person and has an actual medical background and is respected in the local community (unlike the corporate management of that place). I could approach her discretely quite easily. I already have some rapport and trust built with her, and based on the behind the scene dynamics and tensions I think I have intuited she would not only be sympathetic but genuinely concerned about me as a patient who is unhappy with my treatment (I kind of felt like she was pushing for me but the stupid business-side people shot me down). Would probably honestly be some great networking. I think she is the kind of person who would appreciate that kind of show of character and values. She helps a lot of struggling people around here and is well-connected in far more interesting circles than the other higher ups. Might cost me any more opportunity there but I'm confident I would win a genuine ally in the community.


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## Flutterlee (Aug 11, 2016)

Man. Interviews are my biggest weakness. I feel like I have failed so many.  because my anxiety is so high. It seems you have come so far in overcoming your social anxiety in order to do customer service jobs. I think your enthusiasm for the job should have been enough honestly; It seems like you outwardly had shown that. And the role playing wasn't fair. Also in my opinion it seems like job interviews are all the same. Ask you very hard questions that generally extroverted people could answer very easily. They generally aren't as contemplative as people like us who are sensitive or introverted. So For me, I'm sitting there thinking oh i must come up with an answer right now or else they will think I'm incompetent. Then I think every answer I'm giving is wrong. Like its easy for some to give answers to questions on the spot. But for some it's a lot more difficult. We're basically being penalized for being who we are. And things such as our enthusiasm or even putting ourselves out there despite having SA isn't recognized. I'm so sorry this happened. All i can say is keep trying as best you can to get where you need to be. It takes a lot of patience i think.


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## dpsflyinaway (Aug 9, 2016)

I am very upset about my most recent job interview. It seemed like I killed it. Found out this morning I didn't get the job. This is my 18th failed job interview. 18 tries to use my college degree. 0 for 18.


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## SunFlower2011 (Nov 30, 2011)

dpsflyinaway said:


> I am very upset about my most recent job interview. It seemed like I killed it. Found out this morning I didn't get the job. This is my 18th failed job interview. 18 tries to use my college degree. 0 for 18.


Keep going, you will land a job soon. What did you study in school? When did you graduate?


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## Basics (Oct 11, 2016)

Man, what a horrible company. Be glad that you didn't get stuck in a job there. That whole interview process was moronic.


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## Jpatter (Dec 20, 2016)

Be proud of yourself because your making a good step in the right direction.


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## chaoticgalaxy (Dec 23, 2016)

I think that's totally unfair. But on the plus, you really stepped out of your comfort zone.
Good luck in your search


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