How many Interviews does it take?

Sometimes you come across an email that is funny enough that you want to share with others. One such email from Steve Eddington of Electronic Search is reproduced below:

How many Interviews does it take?

I have had several conversations with candidates recently and some interesting facts have begun to surface.

One friend said, "I had 13 interviews to eventually get hired."

Another said, "it is a 30 employee company and I have now had 6 interviews, and I am still going."

I found myself laughing and then started thinking that If a person needs to meet 20% of the staff at a firm to be "accepted," what if the company had 5000 employees? How would that work?

Maybe like this?

(Imagine the green smoke and eerie violin music of a dream)

"Yes, Mr. Jones, you will be meeting 1000 of your potential colleagues before we extend you an offer. With some luck, the interviewing process should be completed in 2 years. After the interviewing process is completed, we will require 6 months to evaluate the responses from the 1000 people and give you an answer promptly thereafter. Be advised that we will not discount the fact that more interviews may be necessary to fully evaluate your credentials. As a convenience, we have set up a web site for the purposes of keeping the information organized and accessible. Certain confidential parts of this site will, of course, not be viewable by you, the applicant, but you will be able to monitor how many of the interviewers have responded positively or negatively. Be further advised that the number of positive responses versus negative responses will not necessarily be the deciding factor in our decision. We appreciate your interest in us and wish you the best."

End of imaginary, dream-like, simulated altered-reality pictogram.

I am not saying that my perverted, cartoon-like vision of the ultimate nightmare will ever really HAPPEN, it is just another example of how the "interviewing and selection" process has evolved over the last year or two.

I am also NOT taking a cheap shot at employers who feel that "multiple" interviews are necessary to really evaluate someone. Sometimes it is necessary.

This is humor.

Factually influenced fiction.

In the old days, I would have a sales person come in at least twice to see if they owned more than one suit. Lots of times, they didn't.

If you find yourself in the endless interview loop, it is never inappropriate to ask how long the process is and what to expect from each interview. The employer should be able to tell you how, and WHY they do it, or better yet, ask the headhunter.

Steve Eddington