Following up after underperformance in an interview relative to knowledge

Question

I recently had a second interview with a firm for a highly technical position. This involved deep knowledge of some concepts I got a masters degree in, and I specifically list all classes I took on my resume. The interviewer is an expert in this field as well.

One question I got was "How do you assess the risk of a loan" I started to set up a financial model, defining each term I would use, describing different failure rates and amounts due to different causes, and he just said no, "its just the financial health of the borrower" (which is exactly what I was quantifying)

Then "What is the 10 year" I described what affects the 10 year US treasury on the demand and supply side, but he was just looking for "The 10 year US treasury rate", like the basic definition.

I didn't get a chance to clarify on any of these before he said the answer, he didn't prompt with "yes, but on a higher level..." or anything.

After these questions he seemed hurried like he just wanted to end the interview. Though our meeting was scheduled for a half hour (and he was 3 minutes late), he said it was a "hard stop" at that point so he only had time for one question, though I had prepared a few.

So how do I better prepare for this in the future? I asked clarifying questions on what he meant by "assess the loan" which itself is quite vague, but he was unable to clarify since any clarification would give away what he was looking for, which was simply the definition of credit risk.

I'm just baffled at how poorly I seemed to be evaluated and I don't really know how to proceed.

So the main question is, is there anything I say in my follow up to the interviewing team or do I just give them the standard interview follow up email without mentioning it, and wait to hear?

(I'm asking my recruiter the same question)

Answer 1

Just to expand on Joe Strazzere's comment: if you start with the high-level answer, say something like

stop me when you've heard enough detail

and then start working your way through lower-level answers breadth-first, it:

• allows you to demonstrate that your knowledge is well-organized as well as detailed

  Some people genuinely have a great grasp of detail but can't see the wood for the trees, and this useful information about them to learn during an interview.

• shows that you can select the correct level of abstraction for different situations deliberately

  Even highly technical roles may need to work with roles that are either less technical or technical in different specialties.

  Maybe you assumed the interviewer wanted you to talk to them as a peer, and they wanted to see whether you'd be able to communicate with business users or project managers. Admittedly they could have said that.

This isn't really defending your interviewer, just pointing out that this strategy, which is often a good one anyway, might have ameliorated whatever problem they were having.

is there anything I say in my follow up to the interviewing team or do I just give them the standard interview follow up email without mentioning it, and wait to hear?

You can certainly say I wasn't happy with how that interview went, it felt rushed and like we were talking at cross purposes if it makes you feel better. It isn't going to hurt, but there's really no way to guess who will see that feedback and whether it will be effective from outside the organization.

Answer 2

So the main question is, is there anything I say in my follow up to the interviewing team or do I just give them the standard interview follow up email without mentioning it, and wait to hear?

Just follow up without mentioning it.

Whether your answers hurt or helped you in the interview is in the past, and nothing you attempt to explain will likely change the interviewer's mind. Perhaps the interviewer really did have a hard stop and that is why he interrupted your longer than expected explanations to try to get in all his questions. Just don't worry about it as it is out of your hands at this point.

So how do I better prepare for this in the future?

Assuming you are in a situation where the interviewer refuses to clarify what they are asking, you should just give them the most accurate concise answer possible. If the interviewer wants you to further elaborate, they should ask. You can, of course, also offer to elaborate after giving your answer.

Answer 3

It may depend on the industry. However, normally, in the software or finance industry, most candidates won't need to send a followup message to the interviewers after the interviews to thank the interviewers for technical and non-executive positions. Candidates should only provide feedbacks about the interviews if the companies ask them to do so.

In a reasonable interview, the interviewers should encourage job applicants to ask any questions to clarify the questions given by the interviewers. This way, it shows that the candidates are careful, well-prepared, and help candidates provide the most accurate answers to the best of their ability.

So, yes, in the next time, you should be able to ask the interviewers a few questions to clarify their questions. The experienced interviewers should be able to clarify their questions without giving away the answers to the candidates.

As far as this interview goes, the best thing to do is to wait for the company's next move. There is no point in contacting them to explain your view about the interview because they do not ask for your feedbacks, and they are very busy with other tasks. Just wait and see.

If this company wants to move your applications forward, that is great. If not, there are other companies out there. No worries.

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PS:

In the US, most companies don't even ask you for your followups or feedbacks after a technical interview(s). They either give you an offer or reject your application.

A small number of companies may send you an email survey to ask you some general feedbacks about their whole interview process to help them improve, but they do not ask for feedbacks about a particular technical interview.