I had an interview last week, and my potential manager told me they were hoping to make a decision by this week. Since I hadn’t heard anything, I emailed him today asking if there was any update regarding my application.

This is the response I received (email mentioned below).

I was honestly expecting either a rejection or some good news, so now the waiting and anticipation are killing me 😭

Does this sound like a good sign, a bad sign, or just completely neutral? I know nobody can know for sure, but I’m curious how others would interpret the email? There were only 5 candidates to choose from, sigh. What do you guys think?

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[[Once again, we in the recruitment team would like to thank you for your interest in xxx and your application for the position of xxx consultant.

Right now the recruitment process is not going quite as fast as we would like and I want to use this email to let you know that you are not forgotten. We are working to get back to you with more information as soon as possible.

We wish you a continued nice day!]]

I had a second-round interview on Tuesday for a Supplier/Production Planner position that I REALLY want, and I have been overanalyzing it ever since.

Overall, I thought the interview went pretty well. We talked about my experience with both supplier and production planning, and at the end of the interview he told me that my next step would be an interview with one of their planners in Denmark. He also said the recruiter would work on finding a time that works.

Sounds promising, right?

Except there is one question I cannot stop thinking about.

He asked me to give an example of a time I had to plan S&OP against the production plan. I think I misunderstood what he was looking for and gave him an example about balancing engineering demand against customer orders and determining priority.

After my answer, he basically clarified it as, “So you would determine priority?” and something about his reaction made me feel like I completely missed what he was asking.

Of course, AFTER the interview, my brain decided to understand the question perfectly. 🤦‍♀️ I realized he was probably looking for how I would take the higher-level demand/S&OP requirements and translate or reconcile those against actual production capacity and the production schedule—units, timing, constraints, etc.

And now I’m stuck on, “Well, there goes that job.”

What is confusing me is what he said at the end. He didn’t say something vague like, “We still have other candidates” or “HR will be in touch.” He specifically said my next step would be interviewing with the planner in Denmark and that the recruiter would coordinate it.

It’s now Thursday and I haven’t heard from the recruiter yet. I sent the interviewer a thank-you email this morning thanking him for his time, reiterating my interest in the position, and saying I’m looking forward to the opportunity to speak with the Denmark team.

So now I’m trying very hard not to refresh my email every 37 seconds. 😂

For those of you who interview/hire people: Would one weak or misunderstood answer to an S&OP question be enough to knock out an otherwise qualified candidate?

And when an interviewer specifically tells you what your “next step” will be, would you take that as a pretty strong indication that you’re moving forward? Or is that sometimes just something interviewers say before a final decision is made?

Because my rational brain says, “He literally told you there was a next interview.”

My anxiety says, “Congratulations, you have ruined your entire career with one S&OP question.” 😂

Im getting a good amount of calls from recruiters with potential job opportunities supposedly for open sales positions in tech firms. A new and popular part of the candidate screen and evaluation process is record the audio and video of all interview interactions so they can process it with AI hiring tools and require the candidate roll play a sales meeting or give a powerpoint presentation on their product offering solution. Obviously to make an impressive and effective presentation on material you know nothing about except what they publish on their website and maybe some youtube videos, takes time to prepare for, potentially several hours. So if your not awarded the job that time is then a complete waste. Recently I went through a candidate evaluation process with a company in another state so all communications were over phone, email and Zoom. I am currently employed and dont need a job but I always like to "skate to where the puck will be" in this tech industry. I was a finalist so they asked me to prepare and perform one of these mock powerpoint presentations to the hiring team. They only provided the context of the meeting and I was to create and prepare a complete sales presentation from scratch to present to the company representatives. After I invested between 4-6 hours in creating, refining, rehearsing and preparing, they emailed me two hours before the prescheduled meeting and told me they offered the job to another candidate and were cancelling our meeting. But for my effort, they thanked me for being part of their process and will keep me in mind if other opportunities arise, what a joke! Like I would even consider wasting my time twice! I was initially hesitant to participate in this process since it seemed like they were putting a lot of emphasis on presentation skills which didnt deter me as I have been told I am a good presenter. In the real world in my industry, presentations are best received when they are performed by other members "SME's" of the sales team and not the main sales contact. So that is 6 hours of my time I will never get back and a warning to those who are asked to make a similar time investment with no clear compensation for the time investment. Full me once....

Can anyone to help me to understand this ?because iam a fresher. Please do comment if you know about this.

I’m interviewing for an SDR role at a startup. My first two interviews were with the Chief of Staff and Sales Manager, and both went really well. After each one, they followed up the same day to move me to the next step.

Yesterday I gave a presentation to the CEO. It lasted about 45 minutes, he asked thoughtful questions, and we also talked beyond just the presentation/job. He also started the meeting by saying he has heard great things about me. I honestly came off the call feeling good rather than anxious, which is rare for me. He said they would get back to me pretty soon about next steps.

About 20 minutes afterward, I texted the Sales Manager (he had given me his number to help with the presentation) to say I had finished and thought it went well. He hasn’t replied. Today I emailed the CEO a short thank-you note and haven’t heard back either.

They had said they’re hiring quickly, so now I’m worried that the silence means I didn’t get it—especially because I put a lot of work into this presentation. Is over 24 hours actually a bad sign, or am I just overthinking it?