Feeling like I ruined my opportunity

I've been interviewing with a great company recently thanks to the recommendation of a former manager. It's long distance, so I've had phone, web, and finally an in person interview last week.

They do not have a specific position in mind at this time. They are restructuring due to growth, and they are searching for future candidates based on culture fit.

My in-person interview was with two managers over lunch. It was compressed, as they had to get back to the office for a meeting. One manager was questioning me about my relevant experience, while the other was telling me culture fit stories and gauging my response. It felt very disjointed, and I'm afraid I ended up in a wormhole of bad behavior. I was talking about how I handle and support multiple locations, and it came to light that I was able to push through policy changes at a location rather than at headquarters. They asked how that can happen....and I stopped dead, trapped by my own words.

I finally answered as honestly as possible. I said that I probably shouldn't say this at all, but will, in light of the question. (They laughed.) The answer was that my manager at the time was not open to supporting the locations. By transferring, I was able to get the right people to look at my proposal, and once implemented, it saved the company x number of man hours nationwide.

Gah. Badmouthing a manager. Yes, I tried to divert to success, but I worry this mess up has ruined my chances.

We ended the interview with friendly handshakes. They didn't say a word about timeline or what might happen next. I'm not sure if that was due to needing to get to their meeting, or if I'm not the kind of person they are looking for.

I sent each of them a thank you note, expressing my interest in being part of their team. I was thinking that I'd wait two weeks, and send them a joint email, reiterating my interest and asking for a timeline if they are interested in me. Thoughts?

They do not have a specific position in mind at this time. They are restructuring due to growth, and they are searching for future candidates based on culture fit.

The moment an employer's tells you this means to continue job searching.

You got ahead by interviewing with them, but they are not serious about hiring ANYONE at this time. It can take weeks or even months to decide upon their candidate pool. And sometimes, its a fancy "excuse" to use to not discourage candidates during the interview process when they really have NO positions to hire. All they are doing is sniffing around looking for a "better" candidate.

You did all you could. Really. Personally for me, I was never offered a job even when I distributed Thank you cards after the interview. If an employer really wants you they would offer the job to you, card or not.

^ I agree with this.

Also, you didn't badmouth your boss. You just said he didn't want something.

It's possible that they will judge this as insubordination (as this is technically what it was), but they may also see the initiative that you took. It doesn't necessarily jeopardise your position as it's sort of showing a strength and a weakness at the same time. I probably would never again tell any potential boss that you did something you were told not to do. When in these situations, I phrase it as "my manager was unsure whether this would work, so I did X and the result was Y which was Z times better than what we were expecting". Just use this as a learning experience.

I agree with the others here - if a company is looking for expressions of interest only, they are almost certainly a waste of time. I hope you did not spend too much visiting for the interview.

Apply for other jobs.

If they don't really have a position for you right now, they aren't hiring right now. Sounds more like a case where your manager did a very good sales job on you and they felt obligated to spend some time on it....kind of. A bit like dropping a line to see what's out there rather than actively fishing.

Send them a thank you by all means, but I wouldn't go beyond that asking for timelines that they obviously don't have. Your biggest mistake in this case would be failing to read between the lines that they are not ready for anything serious right now. Basically, something might change abruptly next week and they'll call you, or it might be months, or never. Today, they already told you they aren't serious, so don't be tone death to that and keep on applying and interviewing with others.

It's possible that they will judge this as insubordination (as this is technically what it was), but they may also see the initiative that you took. It doesn't necessarily jeopardise your position as it's sort of showing a strength and a weakness at the same time. I probably would never again tell any potential boss that you did something you were told not to do. When in these situations, I phrase it as "my manager was unsure whether this would work, so I did X and the result was Y which was Z times better than what we were expecting". Just use this as a learning experience.

 

I agree with the others here - if a company is looking for expressions of interest only, they are almost certainly a waste of time. I hope you did not spend too much visiting for the interview.

 

Apply for other jobs.

Luckily, they seemed impressed by my resolve to get the process changed. I was visiting my daughter who lives near there, so the money was well spent Thanks!

Thanks for the replies. It was pretty confusing for me - on one hand, they were urging me to not live near my daughter because it'd be a terrible commute. On the other hand, I interviewed for an imaginary job, so... ?

I'll definitely keep looking. I wasn't sure if I should keep communicating with them or not. I think you're right - if they want me, they'll get in touch.

If they don't really have a position for you right now, they aren't hiring right now. Sounds more like a case where your manager did a very good sales job on you and they felt obligated to spend some time on it....kind of. A bit like dropping a line to see what's out there rather than actively fishing.

 

Send them a thank you by all means, but I wouldn't go beyond that asking for timelines that they obviously don't have. Your biggest mistake in this case would be failing to read between the lines that they are not ready for anything serious right now. Basically, something might change abruptly next week and they'll call you, or it might be months, or never. Today, they already told you they aren't serious, so don't be tone death to that and keep on applying and interviewing with others.

I agree that they aren't ready for anything now.

The managers are all fairly new, hired within the past 2 years. The previous management team was apparently so bad that lots of people left, and positions weren't backfilled. Now the new team is looking at the workload, and what they need, and they are growing, too. Every person I've talked to there has made it very clear they hire based on personality fit first. They pick their people, and then create a job for them. They've talked a lot about the tons of projects that keep coming up and how that is taking away from their time to plan specific roles.

My original application was for a specific job, and I did 2 interviews for that. Then they looked at the positions and workload, and ended up eliminating that position. I was surprised to be asked for a 3rd interview with more managers, but apparently all of them need to agree on a person or they won't hire them.

These managers were looking to create a job where I manage processes, but also have time available to master one specific process...the person who is currently the expert is looking to retire, but hasn't given any dates at all. Could be 6 months, or 2 years, no one knows.

So I've been asking the wrong question. Instead of wondering about a timeline, the real question is whether I made the cut. And telling myself again, if they're interested, they'll call me.

It was nice that the position they were imagining for me is actually higher than the one I applied for. It kinda gave me a little jolt that heyyy, I am good at what I do after all. My current company makes people feel inadequate.

And finally, a job at this company would be great in itself, but would also make my move up north so much easier. My daughter married recently, and has been asking me to move there near her. After our visit last week and many months of conversations, we feel it's the right thing to do.

My worst case plan is to save up so I can survive for a while, make the move, and do contract work until I can land something permanent up there.