Interview story

Interview story: I got rejected but was very happy!

In 2021, I was interviewed by a hiring manager at Indegene. Since she was also an ex-ZS er, we spent a lot of time discussing people from our network. At the end of the interview, she told me, "I will move you to HR discussion."

However, the feedback later came that they were interviewing for a Director level position and felt I was too hands-on, suggesting I join at the Senior Manager level instead. I was elated with this feedback, as it highlighted my hands-on approach, even though we spent 20 out of the 30 minutes talking about our network (This means she gauged that I am hands-on within just 10 minutes).

Reflecting back, during my time at ZS from 2015-2018, my manager often told me that I needed to be more hands-on, as I had joined consulting at a senior level. Despite my efforts, job responsibilities and managing multiple projects with large teams made it challenging to be hands-on. I had to prioritize managing the team and clients, and only in my spare time could I focus on hands-on work. Nevertheless, I continued to put in incremental efforts to do more hands-on work.

And the feedback from the Indegene interview reflects these results. Never underestimate the power of small incremental efforts and the desire to learn!

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Read past stories like above at https://lnkd.in/d9ijze8r