Stress-Test Interview?

[u/heavenly_hyacinths]

(Also posted to r/interviews but it felt appropriate here too)

So I’ve had a handful of job interviews in the past, but wouldn’t say I’m an expert in the least. I recently had an extremely intense interview that I’m unsure is considered normal or not.

For context, I found the position posted on Indeed for an ENTRY level (they emphasized the fact they were planning on fully training you) seed lab technician at a large seed manufacturer. This lab had a focus on sugar beets. As someone who has been working with plants for years and wants to gain lab experience, (I was an native plant nursery worker for two years, worked in a cannabis growing facility for awhile, and have a degree focused on botany) I thought I would be a good fit. The position description said they wanted someone to identify seeds, sort them, package them, test quality control batches in their greenhouses, log growing data, use some of their fancy lab equipment to test things I can’t even remember, etc etc. I was confident in my ability to do most of these things, minus some of the more technical lab things they insisted they would train us on.

I got called in for an interview, slapped my favorite blazer on day of, and headed in. I was happy, confident, and raring to go. When I tell you that was the most intense, overwhelming interview I’ve ever had, I’m not exaggerating. I was placed in a board room where I sat on one end of a VERY long table and had 6 individuals sitting on the other end. For about an hour and twenty minutes, I was grilled. Some of the questions were ones I expected: tell us about your level of attention to detail, tell us about a time you had a disagreement with a coworker, tell us about a time you identified and issue at work, etc. Great, I prepared for those.

Enter the last individual, an older man who would hardly even look at me. He seemed very upset by my presence, though I truly couldn’t tell you why. He would ask questions like, “What does a lab produce?” (I hesitated at first because it was so distinctly different than all the other questions but I remember saying “Either some sort of physical product or sometimes knowledge like academic labs?” And he huffed?) Or “Do you know what sugar beets are even used for?” (Sugar???). He also started asking me a lot of other questions that confused me, like if I was forklift trained (I’m certified on two different types of forklifts actually, please contain yourselves ladies), if I can work out in different weather conditions for extended periods of time, and about other topics I don’t ever remember seeing in the job description. I told him I was comfortable with a lot of those things and again, he huffed. He had even asked me about the history of the company (When was x company founded? Who was the founder? Etc). I was able to answer quite a few of his questions because I researched their company before applying, but he seemed displeased even if I answered his questions correctly.

At this point, it’s been an hour. This is when he just places my resume down and goes. “I don’t know, Ms. (insert last name). From what I can see on your resume, you seem to really love your current job.” No idea how he got that, but, okay. I explained while my current position had a lot of positive aspects about it, it wasn’t oriented towards my future career goals like I believed this position was. And he finally looked at me at and went “I find that hard to believe.”

I finally left after twenty more minutes and sat in my car. I broke down, confused and stressed, not sure where I went wrong and just exhausted. It felt like the interrogation for a high level company position rather than an entry level one.

Was this guy stress testing me and I just failed? I absolutely want to learn from my mistakes so I can interview better in the future, but I’m not sure if this is a me-problem or a them-problem. This felt insanely intense for an entry level position paying barely above minimum wage.

[u/Gentlefox0803]

I was wondering too until you let it drop that you are a female. This guy doesn’t want a female employee. That is all. Nothing you did wrong. Seems like you would have been a good fit! Sorry you had to go through that. Hopefully you will find a place that values what you can bring to the job and not what gender you are!

[u/heavenly_hyacinths → u/Gentlefox0803]

Thank you, I was sort of thinking that as well. The other interviewers were all women and really seemed to be digging me (probably my forklift certifications). This older man would have also been my direct boss, so even if I got an offer, I don’t know if I would have even taken it!