DAY 59 - STUPID TIME

Yesterday I had an off site interview to discuss a Talent Acquisition position for a local Fortune 500 company. I was pretty excited because I had heard very good things about this organization. I did my usual research, looked at their website etc.. I came to the conclusion it was a very decentralized company with alot of small operations. I made an assumption that this company would have very basic talent development processes and practices.

I met with the hiring manager and he wanted to go through my resume and learn about me and what I had done in detail. I started from the beginning which started like 15years ago. He began to ask me super detailed questions about these events that to be honest were very foggy... I mean it was 15 years ago. OK, my memory held out alright but I was starting to feel like going through my resume would in fact take a decade.

He was very nice but I felt like we were not quite connecting. I felt my answers sounded dumb and very basic. He then began probing me on talent acquisition which is a topic I know well. His focus was top leadership and pipeline building. He kept on trying to prove that I had not hired top level employees. I just was not sure what he was getting at. I mean it was like a bad blind date except I think he was into me. So I am answering the questions and clearly not as sophisticated or intellectual as him and I am feeling like an idiot. I am trying to get out of this with some dignity and actually I was starving so I would not have minded leaving either. Here I felt I was bombing and he kept on smiling like we were on the same page.

He then started to describe the talent philosophy at the company. Now I am a person who I think is strategic but I could not follow or understand his concepts. I tried and I tried but had no idea what he was talking about. It was the first time I really was stumped. I felt like a total idiot!!!

We came to the end of the interview and I gave him an out. I said that it was apparent that my experiences and previous company's were not as advanced as this organization. I wished him luck with building his organization and blah blah blah. He then said, he had to interview 5 more people and he wanted me to keep in touch with him about my status over the next week. He kept on stressing to let him know any employment move I made... like he was actually interested in me... I thought he was just trying to be polite but he kept on emphasizing this fact... weird....

I walked away from this interview feeling like I went to Vo-Tech. I felt horrible about myself and my intellectual capacity. Yet I was so confused as I think he liked me for the company.... nananana (twilight zone song)

REALIZATION
Maybe this guy just in fact does not make any sense and I should not take it personal. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Realization 2 - I am sick of interviewing and telling my story --- it is so boring already - I hope I am off the market soon it is wearing me down. I never want to talk about me again!!! or at least to the next interview...