Posted on Sep 30, 2014
SGT Timothy Stroud
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As I was transitioning out of the U.S. Army, I remember one interview that still makes me laugh. I was sitting in front of a Hiring Manager for a large corporation and he asked me tons of questions about my service and skills. Things were going very well and I was pretty sure I had the job until we got comfortable and I let my guard down. He cussed in the interview when he spilled his coffee and in true military bravado, I decided to UP him one with my colorful post-Iraqi deployment language. Needless to say, I verbally stepped on my own toes and almost didn't get hired. Oh, and I did this at Toastmasters too. But that's another story...
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Responses: 6
SCPO Fred Andy
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When I was transitioning, I had an interview with a nuclear plant manager and a couple of members of his staff for an Emergency Response Coordinator position for the site. I thought the interview, which was quite long and thorough, went very well and was quite surprised when I heard from a former shipmate (that was currently working there) that, although they thought I was great, they were concerned that I was too calm and relaxed in the interview. Needless to say, no offer. I guess they were looking for a much higher strung ERC!
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CWO3 Bryan Luciani
CWO3 Bryan Luciani
9 y
Good example of the wrong people assigned as interviewers Fred. Seen it more than I care to admit.
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SCPO Fred Andy
SCPO Fred Andy
9 y
Exactly, Bryan! As an HR professional now, I see it much more than I care to!
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CWO3 Bryan Luciani
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I've been on the job hunt for 8 months now and have had a six interviews. Every one has had it's odd moments. I am absolutely sure there exists a strong anti-military or veteran discrimination in the civilian sector. I intimidate people when I don't want to and my confident behavior is very likely seen as "cocky". Trust me I am working on my softer side. As for odd, I interviewed for an engineering position that was given to an insider two days before my interview (as I found out later from an email), but three weeks later I was interviewing for the position vacated by that same insider. and he was there sitting on my interview panel. At the end of the interview they asked me if I had any questions, so I asked the person vacating that position, "Can you tell me some good things about that job?" he responded, "You'll never have to worry about having enough work." I should have stood up right then and said, "Check please".
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PO2 Kayla Modschiedler
PO2 Kayla Modschiedler
9 y
I totally agree with you, I totally intimidated my boss at Home Depot. I don't feel bad about one bit, he was completely unprofessional.
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PO2 Erik Swanson
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Edited >1 y ago
I have 2 actually. I interviewed for Gould's pumps, two interviews were in there with me. One asked all kinds of questions like were I had been , what did I see, what was life like on the ship... The other didn't ask any questions, he just came out and told me he didn't believe I had ever worked on a pump. A machinist mate that never worked on a pump before. And my journeyman's licence meant nothing to him. No job offer there.

The other was with immigrations for my wife. The interviewer was retired Navy, retired OSHA inspector AND a HD rider. So we talked about all that for about an hour without even asking my wife a single question about being an immigrant. He finally told us to hand over our book of proof and have a nice day. The wife did get accepted.
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