Interviewed for Job When Someone Else Was Already Chosen

“Here is a question for you that have been driving me nuts. I applied for a job last year which I was really qualified for and got the interview. One of the requirements was to come in to the interview with 3 personal references. So I called one of my colleagues and asked him if I could use he. He said yes of course. He also asked me to send him the job posting which I did right away.

The next he texted me and told me that another colleague of his is also interviewing for the same position, let’s call him JC. JC was told by the hiring manager that he is going to get the job but the interview is merely to satisfy HR requirements. I thought I should cancel the interview, but I was also prepared and felt like I could be a good fit and thought maybe I could impress them or at least get offered another position if they are dead set on taking JC.

So I interviewed with an HR person and two managers. The hr person did most of the talking the two hiring managers didn’t even look at me. They asked very complicated questions about internal company policies which I have no way of answering.

In short my 1 hour interview lasted 20 minutes and then I was excused. The following week I found out that JC got the job.

The question is, if everybody knew this was the case, why couldn’t you just offer JC the job directly?? I never felt belittled in my life. Mind you the person who told me about JC didn’t even work for that company.

Also, should I have asked a question about if there are preferred candidates? Is that even allowed?”

That is really frustrating - I'm frustrated for you just reading that.

To start I'll say this - maybe you should feel THANKFUL that you aren't working with those people now that you've experienced this.

Yes, JC was a shoe-in but they had to show that they explored all options. The two managers thought the interview was wasting their time which was reflected in their attitude. I think the HR person was probably screwing with you a little bit and throwing out questions no one could answer so that you didn't "perform well".

At the end of the day I'm proud of you for still going to the interview. It will probably the most difficult interview you will face, so it's all down hill from here. Interview practice is important - that interview was GREAT practice for you.

There was no need to ask about other candidates - you wouldn't have gotten a helpful answer.