After mentioning it in at least two posts, I suppose it should come as no surprise that so many people want to know how my interview went. OK, fine. I’ll tell you. But promise not to laugh. Good luck with that.

So, full disclosure now: the interview was with a large cosmetics company. I did not apply to them. They, apparently based on my CV (hopefully not based on a Google search….see www.chrisangell.com) invited me to their corporate presentation. Needless to say, I skipped that and went to Pangkil Island (in fact, I didn’t even see the invitation until later, due to its 5MB attachment). Consequently, they invited me to interview. I accepted. At first, I didn’t have a very strong opinion about the company, but then I went to their website and found out they own my favorite personal care/whatever company. So I was mildly into the prospect. I spoke to my one friend [formerly] at this firm, and pissed her off, since it was the first email I’d sent since leaving France and so I was accused of using her only as a job contact. Anyway.

So they book me for a Friday afternoon interview (which in Singapore might as well be Saturday morning). I was instructed that there was no need to send a CV or letter of motivation, given that I had been pre-selected. So I figured they saw something they liked and wanted to use the interview to know more about that, and to find out what else I’m into/about, and what thoughts I have about the job which they will bring up at the interview (the position I was interviewing for was listed as “ALL POSITIONS WORLDWIDE.” Nice…

It was a video interview, which didn’t have me terribly excited, but what choice did I have? I accepted, and began vigorously preparing. I read Vogue. I read Elle. I read InStyle. I read FEMALE (SGP based). I read 20 different fashion and cosmetics blogs. I poured over the company's (very very slow) website. For hours. And hours. If there is one thing that is stressed over and over it is that they value people, creativity, and diversity.

So, based on all this, I went in expecting someone who was familiar with my CV, and was looking for examples of creativity, personality, and familiarity and appreciation of diversity, as well as some interest/familiarity with their industry. With maybe a few random questions thrown in to show me that they are also curious and creative, and something to show me how much they do, in fact, value people.

How to put this gently…..? Not even fucking close. Ok, maybe that’s not fair. I mean, they were under no obligation to meet my expectations for the interview. But I don’t think my expectations were unreasonable. I’ll give the facts, you decide. Whatever the case, I readily acknowledge that neither of us handled the situation perfectly.

So, I’m sitting in the room at 3:50, waiting for my 4:00 interview. At 4:15, after staring at an empty chair on television for 25 minutes, I called Career Services to see what was going on. They informed me that the woman was tied up in live interviews, and would be with me shortly. At 4:35, she arrived, and apologized for just getting in, as the traffic out of Paris was so bad. Hmmmmmm…… Someone isn’t telling the whole truth here. Then, while not even looking at me, flipping through a pile of papers, she says “Why don’t you take me through your CV?” HUH? So, perhaps less professionally than the situation called for, I replied, “Are you kidding?” I mean, for a company to say they value people, and actively select someone to be interviewed at the very end of the week, show up 35 minutes late for dubious reasons, and then not even have an idea of who they are talking to??? I was not impressed. Basically, it was down hill from there, as I felt like I was being given the interview that should have preceded the interview I was expecting. I guess with 53,000 employees, I should have anticipated this, but I thought that INSEAD held their on campus recruiters to fairly high standards. I had gone to great lengths to hold up my end of the bargain, and felt completely disrespected.

So THAT’S how my interview went. Thanks for asking.