How to Deal with the Forever Job Interviews (When you are 50+)
This week, CNBC Make It confirmed what Riff on Jobs believes: “job interviews are getting longer,” and this could be a “red flag.” The hiring trend in 2023 consists of employers requiring multiple job interviews that may span weeks and even months before an offer is extended, if an offer is extended. Candidates are expected to commit to as many as a dozen interviews, with no apology and often no explanation from the employer. These may include panel or individual behavioral interviews, cultural fit assessments, case studies, or merely random, repetitious conversations with multiple stakeholders. To the candidate, it is simply chaotic (and a foreshadowing of what to expect if hired). Common interview starter question/statements are “walk me through your resume,” or “tell me a little bit about yourself.” Typical questions include:
Why are you looking to make a change?
What attracted you to this position/company?
If we hire you, how much time will you require before you start? (this replaces “how much notice will you need to give to your current employer,” assuming you are between engagements)
Why are you looking to make a lateral move? (if the job is equal to your prior role)
How do you feel about working as an individual contributor? (if you have supervised staff in the past and are now interviewing for a position that does not have direct reports)
What value do you bring to this position?
There are, of course, dozens (or hundreds) of other questions that may arise, some straightforward and some more convoluted, depending on the job and the company. The bottom line is that, by the 9th or 10th interview, it is challenging to remember who asked what and to gauge how the interviewer seemed to respond. Not only that, but often questions are repeated across multiple interviews as it seems that one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.
If the candidate is following good guidelines to prepare for the interview, it entails a lot of prep time, reviewing the LinkedIn profiles of every single interviewer, looking at their backgrounds and experience and, perhaps, identifying common connections. You may even reach out to some of those connections in advance of the interview to ask, “I’m interviewing with [interviewer’s name] for [name of position] next week. What insights can you share about what type of candidate she/he/they might be looking for?” Imagine doing that for all 9 or 10 of the people you are interviewing with. That’s a full time job unto itself.
By the time you have completed a dozen interviews for a position you were initially a excited about, you may feel a little less enthusiastic, exhausted and, quite frankly, tempted to send an invoice for your consulting services. After all, you may be providing very valuable information about how you have addressed issues in your past work experience that could offer teaching moments to the interviewer. How lucky for them! Meanwhile, you likely have no idea how many other candidates there are and your dozen interviews may result in nothing but an eventual rejection letter.
Sadly, I am not painting a hypothetical scenario here. Just prior to deciding to stop job hunting, I did have 10 interviews for a job that was, essentially, a lateral move, although my prior position had been eliminated due to a massive layoff. In that scenario, being asked about why I was making a lateral move seemed to be an insensitive question, though one can’t expect every interviewer to know that you are job hunting because you are not currently working. Of course, in 2022/2023, chances are that a high percentage of candidates are recently laid off workers. Prior to the 10 interviews, I had completed 5 interviews with a different division of the same company. The first 5 were clearly defined and well organized; in the end, while I was not hired, I was given specific feedback indicating why the role was not a fit; the recruiter was very positive and may have even had a role in me being invited to interview for the second, different position within the organization. The ten interviews for the latter position were far less organized and specific and, by the time I had completed all of them, I was exhausted. I knew that, if I were offered the position, I would be stepping into a chaotic landmine. In the end, the position I interviewed for over a period of three months ceased to exist. Through multiple reorganizations and a company-wide cost cutting hiring freeze, the position and hundreds of others were pulled. This scenario is not unique. More and more displaced workers are sharing similar stories; large numbers of people have gone through as many as 10 to 15 interviews without an offer.
CNBC’s article, cited above, confirms that my last job interview experience was not unique; participating in close to a dozen interviews for one position is the new normal. The economics of this are astounding. Imagine 10 employees giving 45 minutes to an hour of their time for each candidate being interviewed for just one position. Multiply that by numerous positions and candidates, and the employee acquisition costs are enormous for the employer. For the candidate, it’s not unreasonable to assume that all of these interviews have landed you on the short list, and you may scale back your job search for other viable opportunities. To coin an overused adage: don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
At the end of the day, our takeaway is that interviews are a two-way street. Companies may be interviewing candidates, but the way the company performs during the process sends a signal of what work life can be expected at the company, should an offer ensue. Expect that the job search process takes time, the days of only 2 or 3 interviews are over and 9 or 10 interviews are typical. Welcome to the new normal!