After Failing 5 Interviews, Here's What I Learned
Over the past 3 months, I submitted 30 applications and had 5 interviews, but I got rejected from all of them. At first, I was a wreck mentally, but now that I've sorted things out a bit, I'm writing this down.
The biggest problem was that I memorized "prepared answers." I made a list of likely questions, wrote out all the answers, and memorized them, but as soon as one follow-up question came, I fell apart immediately. The interviewers all noticed.
Second, I analyzed the company too superficially. I was at the level of just looking at the homepage and glancing at their products, but these days they ask what the company has recently announced, who its competitors are, and so on.
For the next interview, I'm thinking of doing things a little differently. Instead of memorizing answers, I'll just organize my experiences as raw material and practice assembling them on the spot to fit the question. I don't know if this is the right direction, but I have to keep trying.
4 answers
Getting caught sounding like you memorized your answer is seriously lethal... I once talked like I was reading a script and someone hit me with "Was that really your own thought just now?"—I completely lost it lol. Keeping your experiences only as raw material and assembling the answer on the spot—that direction is right. But when you practice, try saying it out loud and recording yourself too. When you actually say it, it sounds way more awkward than you'd expect and it immediately shows.
Well, that’s a bit... If you failed five times, there’s a good chance it was simply a case of stronger competition rather than a problem with memorized answers. The idea that interviewers can tell when you’ve memorized something sounds a bit like self-justification. I’ll admit your company analysis was shallow, but I see that as only one of the reasons you failed.
Company research has become seriously important. If you go beyond the website and put together recent press releases, job posting keywords, and even competitor comparison tables, you survive the follow-up questions. I changed just that one thing and got hired right away.
This is so true lol