Worst interview...

I had been to an interview couple of years back to a small to medium sized pharmaceutical company – well that was what the website and the consultant portrayed. It would not be kind enough to disclose the name of the company as you would understand why.. The experience was hilarious and worth penning down. With my resume uploaded on few job portals, interview calls and emails from many placement agencies did continuously visited my inbox. It was a requirement for a Divisional Head – International Marketing at this organisation, a position seen quite often on various portals and many placement agencies contacted me for this opportunity.

One fine day, the placement agency called me to discuss about this opportunity. On inquiring about the job profile and the brief about the company, I thought of considering it as it had been quite some time I had been to any interview and wanted to brush up my interview giving skills. Since this pharmaceutical company was not of the well offs, took the opportunity to Google it to get some more insights about this organization.

A family run organisation this organisation, is having their presence in quite a few countries and have a good range of product basket – at least what is reflected on the website. With this attractive website, was impressed with this company and thought of evaluating this opportunity further. Finalized my interview on the very next day at 10:00 am at Matunga. Thankfully I have a very casual approach to interviews and do not get tensed as seen many do. Being in an MNC for almost 5 years now and my entire corporate career with reputed organizations, I always had the image of a well structured and organized work place. This image came crashing big time when I entered into an old structured building and saw the name plate of the organisation on the ground floor of a 3 storied old structured chawl. By this time, I had already made up my mind not to be a part of this company. After a long pause approached the entrance of thinking that this might open doors of exploring my contacts and working on a consultancy basis / retainership basis, if any lucrative opportunity after discussing with the owners.

On me entering the office, I could see the 5’ x 7’ reception with four plastic chairs meant for sitting… For almost 45 minutes, no sign of the HR Head I was just accumulating my patience wondering how can one work in this place where there is constant chatterbox of the office boys and lorry drivers bringing their challans (delivery receipts) to be stamped and signed. The treatment given to a senior positioned candidate was horrifying as I was sitting next to these lorry drivers (no offense to them as such) in a non A/c room hoping that they will make me wait in any of the meetings rooms. By 10:45 am, the HR Head entered the office and by 11:00 am could get an opportunity to see a room which was termed as “Meeting Room”. My long patient wait was over. With no apologies for late coming she started the conversation.. I was puzzled and surprised to listen to the Head of HR and her communication skills. The MTI (mother tongue influence) was very much reflected in her speech and she couldn’t complete her statements smoothly.

On giving a brief about the company, I understood that the company is not having a manufacturing unit and are purely doing business on Loan Licensing / Third Party Manufacturing. To the best of my recollection, the company did touch Rs. 80 crore that year without having any proper organisation structure. The owners of the company were the sole responsible for revenue generation and new business development for their company. This position was expected to then going to recruit a team for International Marketing and Sales – as any growing organisation would take a step towards growth and structure it as per industry norms.

After the general chat which normally is the case with HR, I expected her to route me to the owners of the company for further talks on this opportunity. Instead, she had other plans for me L.... I was showered with questions (in her style) on the sales strategies and was checking my thoughts and ideas to handle International business. Well... here the fun started – rather at that time it was frustrating but could then relate the funny part of it.

The first one asked was “What is the value addition you will bring to the organization?” – Valid question. Conveyed the fact that with such an experience into international markets, can explore the expertise and contacts in generating business.

This was followed with another hit question and the quality of questions started deteriorating one after the other – possibly it were a standard set of questions she had prepared for all interviews, senior or junior level management. What will be the additional revenue you will generate if you are given the opportunity? Well... a question which normally is expected from the Sales Director and not an HR Head... It was quite obvious and at that point in time very difficult to quantify it as it very much depended on many factors like the list of products, the type and quality of infrastructure the organization has, the manufacturing capabilities, and many more. But I narrated the same emphasising on the fact that any number might be difficult to say at this moment. She emphasized on giving me a % growth and additional revenue if they recruit me... Well, it was too much for a caliber of HR Head to understand the fundamentals of International Sales and ask such a question. But after she started to chew the same question on and on, I commented – if you have excellent product range and worthy customers to cater to and have got proper registrations done for these products there are chances of giving a growth of 25% over and above the existing business”. By looking at her face, I concluded that she was not happy with the answer. She authoritatively mentioned, “We are looking for a person who can get the business from 80 crore to 800 crore”. With her response, I did not know whether to jump off the chair. From 80 crore to 800 crore – I was flattered with the commend she had when she commented this statement. I was about to ask her, if a person is confident enough to give a growth to any business by 10 fold, he definitely will not be stupid enough to work for an organization like this one – instead the person shall start his own trading business and return the bank debits in less than a year. Instead I humbly commented, “I would rather be realistic than over optimistic in my answers”.

I thought enough is enough and I really cannot take any more. But it seems that the HR Head was quite keen in continuing this interview. There came another question, “What steps will you take in growing the team and what will be the steps in growing the business”. I did not have much to say but gave a sarcastic smile. She was very keen in getting an answer from me so I forcefully commented that it will be a team of 5 with 2 as product managers, 1 for export documentation and 1 for MIS and will depend on the budget allocated for staff management. I could have given an entire lecture of 2-3 hrs in steps involved in growing the business but I rather avoided that answering by giving just a general overview to approach to generate sales.

Now by this time, I was thoroughly pestered by this HR Head – well a Head with no head on her shoulders. With me not showing major interest in responding to her stupid questions, she ultimately gave up. With a sign of relief on my face, I thought that now will be the opportunity for me to meet the owner of the company. But in turn, I was told that “we are evaluating many other candidates and will get back to you once there is any opportunity”. I was absolutely furious and was about to demand to meet the owner but later on thought that if the owner hires an HR Head like this, what could be his intellectual capabilities – don’t know… Had enough in that 2 hr session, and did not want to have much, I walked out of that office with a new experience.

I immediately called the Placement agent who fixed this appointment, initially thrashed her for wasting my time and then recommended not to suggest anybody for such a senior position in this organization. But while returning back to work from this interview, I could recollect the interview and see the funny part of it. Not sure who was the unfortunate candidate who was selected for this position but the position was kept vacant for more than 6 months and I was showered with emails from many other placement agencies for this vacancy.