Job 5: The job that never was a job

Job 5: The job that never was a job

The process:
Screening-> Phone Interview->Panel Interview->Direct Interview-> Offer

The job: Australia has 46 companies in the Forbes 2000, a list of the largest 2000 global companies in the world. How do I know this? Well, one of my strategies for seeking work in Australia was to send off applications to global Australian companies where my international business skill set would be effectively utilized.

This job was with Company R, a leading exporter of iron ore to China, and a member of the Forbes 500. The position was to be an industry analyst with a direct focus on pricing analysis in the Chinese market, which accounts for over 60% of global demand.

The Short: I prepared for the panel interview with a silent fortitude that I rarely bother tapping into anymore. I met with colleagues who had worked in this company, and who were able to send me confidential data sets that would give me a good insight into the production metrics that company R were working with. When it comes to China, there are many sets of numbers, and the rational behind industrial production and hence steel production and iron ore pricing was where I placed greatest preparation emphasis. I contacted Steelhome and received analyst data on steel pricing across the industry, and also contacted friends in Real Estate in Beijing, looking to better understand the asset bubble unique to the Chinese market.

The Skinny: The interview could not have been more challenging, and more satisfying. I was very impressed with the panel questions, and I felt that I had done a very good job of answering the technical questions: Analysis of the Chinese economy, How to value a greenfield project; How to conduct business in Asia... nonetheless, following the panel interview company R seemed very upbeat about the match, to the point of selling the full terms of the contract so as to ward off other offers from companies I was concomitantly talking to.

One week later I received an automated email conveying that although my application was very impressive the job had been withdrawn and there would be no hiring for this position. Hence I had been unsuccessful on this occasion. Fair play. However, a phone call would have been nice. My attempts to get some feedback on what I may have done well and not so well in the interview have fallen on deaf ears. I felt that for my week's preparation, which I thought was evident in the way I conducted the interview, that a phone call would have been the respectful way of dealing with the termination of my application.