The first interview was with the hiring manager and recruitment lead. Went really well, both were very nice and were asking lots of questions about my background - we were all completely aligned on my experience and even said along the lines of 'you're exactly what we're looking for'.
I progressed to the second interview, where I was asked to prepare a number of answers to Caterpillar's 'STAR' method (Situation, Task, Action, Result'.
I arrived 15 minutes early for the interview. The receptionist said i'm 45 mins early. The hiring manager had changed the interview time and not informed me. So I waited for another 30 minutes, and was invited into the building and meeting room.
Despite the interview delay, there was no apology from either hiring manager, who sat at the opposite end of the table. No offer of water or a drink, no casual welcoming chat - just straight into the questions.
And my god did the room turn cold. Straight faces, no smiles or emotion, all very blunt questions, no feedback on answers, just head down writing notes, little interaction for a role that relies on managing people and being communicative.
There wasn’t anything I couldn’t answer, but even the questions I was asking at the end was like a chore for them to respond to. Completely unwelcoming as if they didn't want me there.
I knew within the first 5 minutes I wasn't getting the job, and even thought this might just be an internal hire and this interview is simply a formality to show they're seeing external applicants. Sure enough, I found out a few weeks later it was an internal hire.
Complete waste of time. My background was highly relevant to the role, they even said so in the first interview. I asked for feedback from the recruiter, but didn't receive a response.
