So close, yet so far away

In November I attended a dinner at the Kenan Center hosted by an investment bank that hires a ton of Kenan-Flagler students.  Sitting at my table were a recruiter and several second years who interned there this past summer.  Someone asked about a fellow intern from another school. The recruiter said he received a full time offer, held out as long as he could before finally accepting that previous week. She added “good thing too because I was beginning to contact other applicants to interview for his position.” I don’t know what she did with the other applicants but I remember feeling so bad for them for having had their hopes raised unrealistically.

 

I found myself in that position this past week. I had blogged about an upcoming phone interview with a company I was extremely interested in. To put this in the proper perspective, I have to be delicate and tell you what company this is, without identifying it by name. This company is the leader in the technology field. It has spent millions over the past 16 years to unsuccessfully either purchase, make a significant investment in, or take significant market share away from my former employer. If you are reading this blog, chances are your web browser is running on code written by this company. Given my professional background, my personal interest, and what I want to do in the future, I cannot think of a better outcome for my MBA experience than to have an internship followed by a full time offer from this company.

 

The interview went okay. I was concerned because after my resume walk-through I was asked a technical question about the relationship between several financial statements. The question threw me off guard because such questions are very rarely are asked in non investment banking interviews. I thought the rest of the interview went well and whether I got invited for a company visit depended on how my answer to the technical question was perceived.

 

The next day the recruiter emailed me. She said I did extremely well in the interview. She even added that she wanted me to be the next person invited for a company visit. But she said the timing of my interview was unfortunate and that the finance position had just been accepted by an applicant.

 

There is no way to describe my initial reaction other than to say I was devastated. If she had sent the standard “thank you for your interest but we unfortunately cannot extend everyone an offer” email, I would have understood that I should have brushed up on the mechanics of a statement of owners’ equity. I couldn’t help thinking if I had submitted my resume three weeks earlier, things may have turned out differently. A UVA professor once said, “timing is everything in sex and politics.”  I guess it applies to the job market as well.

 

The only solace I can take is that after the interview, I once again prayed for God’s plan over my summer internship to prevail and that He will use the outcome of the interview to strengthen my faith. As hard as this is to take, I have to believe if God is sovereign and if He really wanted me to work at this place he either would have made it happen to or will eventually make it happen.