So I have recently lost my job. For those who are interested I posted about my experience in here. I am a database specialist with over 4 years of experience, I have certifications to prove my knowledge etc. I’m now in the process of looking for a new job so I usually have multiple interviews per week.
Last week I was interviewed for some job in a bank (not a field I would prefer but I can’t afford to be extra picky right now). This first round was a Teams call after their HR previously interviewed me over phone. The guy seemed pretty amused he’s interviewing a 30yo woman for an IT job. He straight up told me he has a hard time believing me that I have all the knowledge I have in my CV, that people study this area in university for years so I can’t possibly be able to know this stuff too well (mind you I worked as a Microsoft Certified Trainer for years teaching database developers and administrators!) and he kept quizzing me, asking me question after question with a condescending smile. And I answered all of those questions. What a terrible experience it was. I mean I’m okay with them wanting to make sure I know stuff but this felt different as he presented it like he doesn’t believe I know my shit. I felt like a fraud. Anyway, got over it. To my surprise yesterday the HR called stating they’d like to do a second round with me on Thursday. I’d rather brag about how that first round felt but I’m letting it slide and agreeing to the second round. Well guess who called today? The same HR asking if I would mind to get last minute tested before the interview.
I’m not new to the whole boarding procedures as I went through some of these tests for my previous jobs. But they usually tell you in advance that’s it’s part of the process and they typically have some sort of platform to test it on. Not like last minute would you mind getting tested. On top of that the “test” will be on excel spreadsheet and I’m supposed to hand it in within one hour after receiving the email.
This is humiliating. I know they want to make sure I’m not lying in my resume (even though they can have my exam and certifications transcript if they ask) but from the whole process you can tell they don’t typically do this, just for me. I don’t know what to think about it. Not sure if I will be able to hold myself back on the second interview though. This is gonna be fun.