Does a good interview guarantee you the job?

[CrimpJiggler]

I had an interview with a pharmaceutical company (for an intern position) and at the time I didn't really care whether I got the job or not so I wasn't nervous at all and consequently, I did a phenomenally good interview. I just spontaneously became highly charismatic and said everything I wanted to say. The interviewers seemed to like me a lot. I looked into this company more and now I see that this would be a brilliant company to work for. I know that they interviewed heaps of people for this position though and a lot of the people they interviewed had better marks than me last year (we had to put last years marks on our CVs). Its likely that I did a better interview than anyone else but will the marks on the CV be more likely to be what determines who gets the position or not?

 

[daveyrocket]

A bad interview will pretty much guarantee that you won't get a job. But there is no guarantee that you will get a job, regardless of how good your interview is because all kinds of other factors can play a role.

 

[DivisionByZro]

Nothing really guarantees you a job (Unless maybe the hiring manager was your best friend, maybe). As far as you know, they can pick jobs using blind picks out of a hat, or maybe a coin toss? Maybe the hiring manager(s) didn't like your hair, or maybe they just don't want you for some reason X. You can't be certain of these things as there is too much subjectivity and randomness.

But, good luck with the job hunt.

 

[pantaz]

If they don't hire you, don't be discouraged. You can ace the interview, be the most highly qualified applicant, and STILL not get the job.

 

[Pengwuino]

Like davey said, the only thing that can be guaranteed is bad interview = no job. A dozen things could happen that could result in you not getting the job. Maybe all of a sudden they have a budget issue, someone ELSE has an even better interview, etc.

 

[twofish-quant]

Its likely that I did a better interview than anyone else but will the marks on the CV be more likely to be what determines who gets the position or not?

In every company that I've every worked for, once you get to the interview, what's in the resume is largely irrelevant. The resume is to figure out whether or not to give you an interview.

Some things to remember:

1) It's really hard to know how well you did. One reason I recommend going through a headhunter is that the employer will tell the HH how well they think you really did, and I've been in interviews I thought went well that didn't, and I've been in interviews that I thought were disasters that weren't.

2) It depends on who else is in the position. You could do great, but someone else could be even better, and sometimes you end up with candidates that are more or less evenly matched at which point it becomes random.

 

[AlephZero]

The purpose of an interview is to find out about the candidate, so a good interviewer is unlikely to stop you "saying everything you wanted to say" or "becoming highly charismatic" whether or not it has any relevance to the matter in hand, if only to avoid an anti-discrimination tribunal later.

Whether they think you were a good match for the job on offer is a completely different question. As TwoFish said, it's very hard for you to judge that, because you don't know most of the relevant facts. Of course withholding the facts is deliberate, because if you ask a candidate too many leading questions, you only learn if he/she is smart enough to give you the answers that you wanted to hear.

 

[CrimpJiggler]

I messed up my 2nd interview completely. I was being interviewed by 3 people at the same time and besides laughing at the jokes I made, they didn't even smile at all during the interview. In contrast, the one I had the day before, both interviewers had a big smile on their faces for the whole duration of the interview. Thats why I assumed it went well but like a few people said, I can't judge whether it actually went well or not. They were the only 2 interviewers I've gotten so far. These are intern positions and I'm going through my colleges system so its not really essential that I get a job since it will be minimum wage and if I end up doing a research project at my college instead, I still pass the module but I really want to get a job so I can finally start working as a chemist.

 

[twofish-quant]

The purpose of an interview is to find out about the candidate, so a good interviewer is unlikely to stop you "saying everything you wanted to say" or "becoming highly charismatic" whether or not it has any relevance to the matter in hand, if only to avoid an anti-discrimination tribunal later.

Speaking of which, one thing that I've found that you have to be careful about especially with people with HR backgrounds is that they are very good at getting you to talk about something that will kill your job chances.

If you say something stupid, what they'll do is to smile at you and make you feel comfortable and politely ask you to keep digging the hole that you are digging for yourself. The goal is to get you to keep talking, and the more you talk, the deeper you are digging yourself.

Conversely, in some of the interviews that I thought I bombed, it's because the interviewer asked me really tough questions, and seemed to react badly when I couldn't answer them, but I later found out that the interviewer was impressed that I got to those questions before drawing a blank.

Of course withholding the facts is deliberate, because if you ask a candidate too many leading questions, you only learn if he/she is smart enough to give you the answers that you wanted to hear.

Yes, which is why the job search is totally Kafkasque. It's also why networking ends up being important because the more you know about the job, the more you can guess what they really are looking for.

 

[DaveC426913]

Not only does a good interview not guarantee the job, but a second interview and even a discussion about salary and a walk around to meet the troops doesn't guarantee it. Nor lunch with the boss nor promises.

You do not have the job until your signature is on the offer.

 

[Chronos]

Most interviews are designed to test your team skills. They have already reviewed your technical skills and judged them at least adequate. So, you normally get a few tech questions as a humor check, but, they are mainly interested in evaluating your psychological 'fit' with company policy, and group they have in mind for the assignment. It is very helpful to ask questions related to these issues during the interview process.

 

[Phrak]

Every company has their own strategy to hire empolyees.

The best folks to ask about counter strategy are the ones who have learned the strategy by trial and error, failing too many times to land a job.

The worst folks to ask about counter strategy are the ones who failed too many times to land a job.