Was about to clinch J2...turned down at the last minute!

Just a rant post for you: I got into OE/job stacking last fall. I am transitioning from teaching to something corporate - chose marketing as my new career and have been working my ass off on perfecting my resume and interview skills. I finally landed J1 a few weeks ago and begin soon - a big deal that I'm proud of.

Simultaneously I was interviewing with a potential J2 that would have been sweet - honestly, it would have been a fun job doing something enjoyable and interesting. Plus, the comp was >$100k with sweet bennies and a bonus. After a recruiter interview, a 1-hour interview with two VPs, and another 1-hour interview with two future coworkers, I was told by the recruiter that I essentially had the job, pending a "personality assessment" (really an IQ test), references, and one final interview with a lateral coworker who had been on vacation. I was also told that I was the only candidate to advance to this final round - so I was practically a shoe-in.

No problem, no problem. Got the test done, get some great references in, and had what I thought was a solid interview with the coworker. Instead of being technical, it was mostly about office politics/management stuff. I have leadership/management experience, and was able to give what I thought were good answers to her mostly dumb questions (honestly, they seemed improvised!).

Anyway, I finally heard back from the recruiter who told me...that they realized they want someone with "more manufacturing experience" (the company is a big-time manufacturing holding company) and who has "more experience leading teams and initiating projects on their own due to the relative autonomy of the role." And for some reason they assume I can't learn about manufacturing (dumb), and that I don't have the ability to lead people - despite talking about past management roles, my previous business ventures, and other soft skills that clearly map onto "leadership" - whatever the hell that means.

Whatever - it's just another lost opportunity among the dozens I've had over the past 8 months. But all the more frustrating because it shows just how badly run hiring is, even for F500 companies, even when they have an excellent candidate.

Let this be evidence for you: don't take the corporate world seriously, don't be afraid to jump into a new situation, don't feel like an imposter. At the end of the day, the people in these roles are just a bunch of assholes (like you and me) who are out to protect their own interests, positions, and misplaced feelings of power.

So, it's on to the next opportunity, and the next one, and the next one...