I was initially contacted by one of their junior level recruiters based on my resume on LinkedIn and set up a screening call through email. Screening call was about an hour- mostly work background and a few sales figures from previous places I had worked. All seemed to be going well. After sending my “thank you” email from the screening call, I was contacted by a more senior level recruiter to arrange a Zoom interview with her and the Director of Operations (2 levels up) for the new location.
I did an extensive amount of research in preparation and was feeling pretty confident, as I have always represented well in “in person” interviews. I tested the lighting, sound, and picked out a suit (it IS an interview, even if it happens in your living room).
My interviewers were a couple minutes late to the Zoom (no big deal). The Director of Ops started with a “tell me about you as a person- not relating to your work”. This caught me a little off guard, as A) I’m pretty humble and don’t like to toot my own horn, and B) aren’t job interviews supposed to be about the professional, not the personal?
In any respect, I tried to navigate as best as I could, sharing a few hobbies, (I like to play guitar, work with my hands, creative writing, GOLF). Then we went through a few other questions about my work history. He gave me a little history on his time with TG. When it was time for my questions, I asked for more clarity on the management structure, as well as what he (Director of Ops) was looking for in a perfect F&B Manager. The recruiter was completely mute the entire time, which I thought was a little odd, but hey- it’s their world that I’m trying to join.
I asked them how they maintain proper communication with such a large team (a well known challenge in the industry), and they sort of chuckled it off with a “well, that’s the big trick, isn’t it?!?” But didn’t really come back with anything. We also didn’t really get into specifics about my work history- something I’d imagine would be in a subsequent interview perhaps?
They finished the 49 minute interview by telling me they would give me a status update by the end of the next week (which was Xmas week). I sent my thank you emails, got a response immediately from the recruiter reiterating the timeline.
As Xmas was on the Friday, I waited (with no contact) until the following Wednesday (15 days after the Zoom) before reaching out with a follow up email to the two interviewers. I received a call from the junior recruiter that had initially “found me” with a rejection. She said she thought our call went great, and she got positive feedback from the Zoom, but they were going with someone else. I did the obligatory “I hope you keep me in mind for future opportunities” and wished her a happy new year.
The biggest disappointment was how enamored I had become with this opportunity. I don’t really feel like I was seriously considered based on my qualifications for the role, but rather how well I was “liked” in my initial impression (over Zoom) to what could’ve been my bosses’ boss. I also find it kind of unprofessional to “ghost” an applicant- I firmly believe that if I hadn’t been persistent in my follow up, I would have been left hanging. It would have also been nice to get a candid reason and feedback from my interviewers as to why I lost out on the next step, rather than just to push the brush-off to the junior recruiter to deliver a generic “yeah, I’m not sure what went wrong”.
It’s a shame- looks like an exciting company.