TLDR: Unemployed since 3/23. This is the farthest I've gotten in a few months. I don't feel great about how I performed but I gave myself a fighting chance. I've been trying to fight back from a state of free fall. A yes would be great and a no just means I'm falling a little bit faster but I'm in a certain state of peace. Maybe if I'm falling, I've decided to do it on my terms. I know trying to ballpark my performance is futile. I've had interviews where I felt like I killed it and then got rejected, and I've had interviews where I felt awful and ended up moving forward. I'm just talking it out here to vent basically. I've been unemployed almost a year now, since 3/23. It's been an emotional roller coaster. There was a point last summer and fall where I was really down and just thinking about blowing it all up and embracing the death spiral. Although I'm still unemployed, I'm in (maybe) a better place now mentally. The role: https://boards.greenhouse.io/assembled/jobs/4048409004 I made it through the recruiter phone screen, hiring manager call, and take home assignment to get to the panel. - Cultural values (Head of Customer Success) I felt like this was my best segment. The interviewer was providing really positive feedback and seemed to be connecting ("I love that, great example"). I think my behavioral stories hit the right notes. I said my super power was "listening" and being able to really understand the customer and they loved that. My questions were also hitting the mark. "Give me an example of a time when a manager gave you positive feedback that stuck with you." - Project Review/Support Instincts (Implementation Manager) We went over my assignment and then more behavioral questions. Obviously I did well enough on my assignment to move forward. They had me walk through my thought process and how I approached each case. They asked what I thought were the differences between the cases. I thought everything was straightforward, but it seemed like they were looking for some kind of amazing, in depth insights which was a bit off putting. "The customer says what they're seeing in Zendesk is different from what they're seeing in Assembled. How would you go about troubleshooting?" I thought the questions I asked here were ok. - Drive and Teaching (Support Lead/hiring manager, Technical Support team member) I started off talking with the team member. They were asking questions along the lines of what I'm looking for, what's important to me, my biggest area of personal growth, what does hard work mean to me, etc. I think I connected really well with them and they were providing positive feedback. The manager then took over. ""What is the most technical project you've ever led? How would you explain this to a VP or someone who is not really technical?" "You input a query into Google. What happens between inputting the query and getting the result? Where is the information on Google stored?" More behavioral questions about how I would investigate and troubleshoot issues. How I handled a difficult/complicated customer case and helped them. The part with the manager felt π¬ but the part with the team member felt good. My questions in the section also seemed to be received well. - Working with Product (Solutions Engineer) This was my worst section. There were questions examining my thought process and approach to solving problems. If I get an error message, how would I go about investigating that? How do I know it's a bug? If a customer is frustrated, it's a problem I can't solve or escalate, what would I do? We got a bit into the API and how to pull data in a certain situation. I basically didn't know what I was talking about. I was...adequately able to find the information but when quizzed deeper about the parameters, endpoints and such, I was lost. There was an API related question on the assignment and I was able to find the appropriate information to answer the prompt, but in terms of actual execution like writing queries, I simply don't have the experience. There was also a question about a time I advocated for a customer, etc. and I had an...ok response with a story from a "voice of the customer" perspective." - Conclusion Overall, from a personality and "culture" fit perspective, I think I did great. For a lot of the behavioral and story based questions, I tended to stick to a more high level framework, hit overarching themes, and then add in as much detail/context as I could. "My first step was to understand the problem, then identify what I could do, and execute on a solution." In my experience, sometimes that approach works and other times, the interviewers are trying to get as specific as possible. I did notice that some of the interviewers were asking detailed questions, like the implementation manager asked if I had access to a demo environment, and I did ask the recruiter about it prior, but they never followed up with me. Overarching themes included giving/receiving feedback, thought process/approach to investigating and troubleshooting problems, working cross functionally day to day. I probably have a tendency to "over prepare." I did prepare for this interview, but I just tried to be myself and be honest. There were clearly things I didn't know and that I wasn't familiar with, but I tried to show that I'm looking to learn and that I do have a lot to offer. I just hope that's the takeaway. The recruiter said they're aiming to debrief and get back to me tomorrow. If I somehow made it through, the last round is meeting the CEO. Fingers crossed. In the past, I might be really stressing out and miserable waiting for a response. I don't know if this is good or bad but I feel fine right now. I think I've been falling for so long that I'm kind of used to it and it's not scary anymore. I'll be happy if it's a yes and then I start thinking about how to connect while talking with the CEO. I'll be disappointed if it's a no and I'll just try to learn what I can from the experience and see if I can make something happen before it's too late. #tech #interview #unemployed
Sometimes when you almost give up on end result thatβs when things fall into place. Hoping you get this job!