Interview story 3 of 3: The laid back candidate

Interview story 3 of 3: The laid back candidate

Recently, I conducted a mock interview with a B-School student. His past experiences, resume, and project discussions seemed to align perfectly with the job description. However, he was consistently unsuccessful in securing the job post-interview.

This puzzled me initially, but upon asking the candidate some pointed questions, I uncovered the root of the problem. The candidate had spent his final college year virtually due to COVID, and his subsequent three years of employment were remote due to his company’s work-from-home policy. But this wasn’t the main issue.

The candidate aspired to a consulting role, and I posed a simple question to him, or rather, made a statement: “You didn’t attend my data analytics and consulting workshop that was held a few weeks ago.”

He was taken aback that I remembered (though my statement was based on data analysis), and he admitted that he hadn’t attended.

I then made another statement, suggesting that he hadn’t worked more than two to three hours a day during his employment. He was shocked and confirmed it was true.

I explained to him that the fundamental problem was his laid-back attitude, which was apparent in all his actions. Interviewers could sense this, making them hesitant to hire him. I advised him to adopt a disciplined approach towards his studies and to invest more time and effort.