I attended a career fair 2 weeks ago. A list of companies that were attending the fair had been published before the event, and there was one I was extremely interested in. It’s a Water/Wastewater Treatment company. I have been working on a research project on water treatment for the past 1.5 years, I have well regarded engineering degree (although not in Civil/Env); I felt really qualified to work for this company. i had a tailor made resume just for this one company.
I enter this career fair and it’s packed with people and booths. I’m looking for this company’s booth. not paying much attention, as I’m walking ahead I hear someone from behind one booth say something I think was rude about me. I keep walking thinking not much of it. As I fail to find this company I turn back, and sure enough it’s the same booth I had thought said something about me. It’s relatively empty.
Whatever, I power through and do my best to charm them. They seem to be very polite, at least on the surface. There’s no doubt that in terms of passion and ability, I’m a good fit for them. As I finish my conversation with them, and I as I leave the booth, I sweat I hear something racist said about me.
I’m like, whatever, ‘figures’, I keep talking to other companies. Then I get a call from them about a pre interview. I take the pre-interview with HR, and give them zero reason to not be interested in me. They tell me they’re going to call me for an formal interview.
A week goes by, and I email them. Nothing. I call them the very ‘nice’ lady who I swear said something racist about me, she says ‘oh, we’re going over qualified candidates, you being one of them, and will call you soon when we’ve finalized everything’
I get a call 3 minutes later from the HR lady asking me for an interview. Yesterday, the day before the interview, she emailed me to confirm my attendance.
I have recieved a single paycheck in over 1.5 years. I’m absolutely qualified for this job, but I’ve gone through this song and dance so many times in the past 1.5 years.
Am I getting self sabotaging myself? Like, they’ve decided to interview me, they’ve been polite to my face, have engaged in conversation with me, acknowledged I’m very much qualified, but I’m just getting bad vibes (tbh, as I usually tend to get). Am I wrong?
Should I actually try or should I just whip my dick out on a hunch that they’re assholes?
If you are getting an interview you’re already one step ahead of 95% of the other candidates.
I can totally get the weird vibes. I’d still just go for the job – your post seems to suggest you’re not 100% (it was a crowded job fair, etc.) – so I feel like your worst case is you go, suss it out, and if they are racist assholes just quit (or hell, file an EEOC claim if that’s your vibe).
However, I’m always willing to trudge through shit situations with 0% chance of success, so YMMV.
However, I’m always willing to trudge through shit situations with 0% chance of success, so YMMV.
Yeah, so do I. I’m going to the interview in about an hour so lets see how it goes. I’ll walk out if I sniff anything
That feels like the right call. You’ll have given good faith, and if they give you another reason (in a less chaotic setting) - GTFO.
Pray that their desire for work to not suck ass supersedes their apparent desire to be racist. If you present yourself as someone who won’t give them unnecessary headaches, likes the job, knows how to do the job, and can solve problems that don’t necessarily require managerial oversight, then your typical manager will think “set it and forget it so I can go throw darts at a dartboard all day.” But if they’re the type of manager to like a more professional touch, liking the job and a willingness to work hard might be more important to them than you being willing to solve your own problems.
Essentially, in my mind, your best bet is to ask questions to discover their management style and then tailor your responses to how you fit into that vision of a team. Like if you were in One Piece and you were interviewing for the Straw Hat Pirates you would probably talk about your dream and your kindness, but if you were interviewing for the Marines you might talk about your desire for justice more than your dream.
Treat it like practice then and try, if they’re assholes worry when you get hired on and try to find something better.
Do it if you’re not completely swamped with other interviews. My experience though is that my gut instinct has always been correct. I’ll sometimes pass interviews where I answered the technical questions wrong, probably because I vibed well with the interviewers and had pleasant conversations BUT I’ve never passed an interview where I got bad vibes during the interview
Have you considered that maybe you just misheard? Why would they even ask you for an interview if they wanted to discriminate against you
Self-sabotage, try it out
in case they are assholes though
