Speak or keep quiet- when lead on hiring panel has wrong resume in front of him on a Teams video interview

[opus1]

I would have said something no matter how deep into the interview we were but I tend to be a bit blunt at times, even in an interview. And I'm pretty sure I talked myself out of at least 2 positions over the years, but that's how things go.

I had the opposite happen once; had a headhunter send me to what was supposed to be a DBA interview on mainframe equipment. Turns out it was a cattle-call and there were at least 10 people in the waiting area with me, and I noticed that they'd call someone in, interview them, and they'd leave. I was unemployed at the time so I pretty much had all day, but once I noticed that the room had turned over everyone that was there before me and was starting to call in the people who came in after me, I asked the admin/receptionist what was going on. Soon after that I got called in and someone on the interview team apologized and told me that they were looking only for Oracle DBA's, and they weren't sure why I was sent there but they would forward my resume to the appropriate area and I might get a call from them. Never did get that call, and that headhunter stopped calling me for some reason...

 

[Pablo]

If this was truly a test - It depends on the job.

QE/QA/Security/IT = need to be honest and tough. You no speak up, good bye.

Nurse, City Admin, legal clerk, etc = blurred lines, soft touch,

 

[Astro14]

I would have told them, during the interview. Gently, politely, to allow them to “save face” as much as possible.

It’s one of those awkward moments, similar to a person getting your name wrong, and it is best to correct it in the moment.

Imagine if that interviewer later realizes their mistake - they’re going to think much less of you. “Wait a second, I praised that guy for being a xxxx but he is actually an xxxx!” “He should have said something!”

Or worse, you nail the interview, and that interviewer scores “Joey Schmuckatelli” as 4.0. Joey gets all the credit, they hire Joey, and the company realizes, “Hey! This ain’t the guy at all!”

 

[Pablo]

.... you nail the interview, and that interviewer scores “Joey Schmuckatelli” as 4.0. Joey gets all the credit, they hire Joey, and the company realizes, “Hey! This ain’t the guy at all!”

USA 2024!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[GON]

So GON, tell me, who are these people to whom you couldn't point out a likely small and innocent mistake?

Tact and timing are often critical in some positions. We were very deep into the interview when I was able to validate the leader of the panel was looking at a different resume than mine. The leader would be my supervisor if I was offered the position, and speculation on my part was my experience was much deeper and wider than his experience.

Like many on BITOG, I have been around a while. While there may be many numerous factors why I have applied to over 400 positions, have had a dozen or so interviews, and only two offers. My guess why I am not getting offers is it is not my age. It maybe I am significantly more experienced than the people that are interviewing me, and I am failing to make a case during the interview that hiring me will make their organization and themselves better off, and that hiring me will not undermine their authority.

Going with my gut, so very late into the interview, had I brought up the resume error publicly in from the leader's subordinates, it may have validated my speculated fear that I know more than the leader and I would play that card if I worked for him(publicly call him out if/ when he may be wrong or not know something). Instead, I kept focused on the interview questions, and allowed the leader to save face.

I fully understand the rational of correcting the error on the spot, and it totally makes sense..... I just took a different approach based that we were so deep into the interview, correcting it then seemed counterintuitive. If I wanted the position, I easily could have reached out to the leader and shared my thoughts on the resume mix-up.

 

[CKN]

Again-
Over 60 looking to get a job, especially one at 6 figures is next to impossible. Don't care what the resume looks like.
That's the major point.
Point number two-I rarely agree with GON on just about anything-
But will concede that hiring somebody with more experience who could replace you in a hot minute is a factor.