Congratulations, You’ve Reached the Wrong Interview The first-round HR prescreen went well. I clearly met the experience requirements, with more than 10 years of relevant industry and domain knowledge. What was frustrating was the second-round interview with the Solution Architects based in India. From the very beginning, they seemed surprised that I had been progressed to their round despite having no exposure to or hands-on experience with the Cisco Collaboration platform. It quickly became apparent that they were looking exclusively for Cisco Collaboration specialists. The interview lasted barely five minutes, which made it feel like the outcome had already been decided before the call even started. While I was ultimately not selected, I was actually relieved, as the role and the panel’s expectations were clearly misaligned with my background. The most disappointing part was that this could have been identified much earlier. If Cisco Collaboration expertise was a non-negotiable requirement, a proper review of my CV should have been conducted before scheduling the interview, saving everyone’s time and effort.