I had a telephone interview for an executive assistant job earlier today. However, I thought the company I applied through was a recruiter for another company. In reality it was actually for the CEO of the company I directly sent my resume to. The guy who set up the interview wasn’t clear on that so I did not do any pre-interview preparation reading up on the company or the CEO.
So, the interview began and after clarification, I apologized for not being on top of things. Anyway, one of the questions was “If you were given this job, what would be the first thing you do?” I did my best to answer the question along with whatever else he asked. At the end of the interview I discovered that the guy I had been talking to was in fact the CEO and the guy I would be working for! Whoa! Oh well. Anyway, he said they would be deciding on the next step by the end of the day or tomorrow morning at the latest so I felt it was more appropriate to send a thank you card via email. Before I did, I spent some time reading about the CEO and his company. While I was reading his biography on the company website, I found a misused word in the second sentence of the bio. Whoops.
So, here’s the email I sent:
Mr. *****,
Normally I would send a note via postal service thanking you for the interview opportunity today. However, since you are progressing to the next step so rapidly I felt it more appropriate to send you an email. I certainly hope you don’t mind.
With that, thank you for taking the time for me today. I enjoyed talking to you a little about the Executive Assistant position and I apologize for the hiccup in communication in my understanding about who the interview was for. I appreciate you taking the time to give me a little insight about what you personally enjoy about ******; it certainly gave me a better understanding of the work environment as well as the company’s goals. I look forward to hearing from you concerning the decisions you make for the next step of the hiring process. Again, thank you for your time and consideration. Respectfully, Brian Miller P.S. I would like to change the answer to the question regarding what the first thing I would do if I was given the Executive Assistant job. The first thing I would do would be to correct the spelling error on your personal biography page (http://www.rjandmakay.com/about-us/891). The second sentence states, “He regularly consultants with some of the biggest firms in the world about traditional and innovative solutions to human capital issues in the financial sector.” (Emphasis mine). This should read, “He regularly consults…” Once I made that correction, my previous answer would apply. Thanks again!
Fourty-five minutes later, just for the fun of it, I went to that page again… Lo and behold, the word was corrected! Ha! So, I just have to hope that he doesn’t think I was being cocky…
***UPDATE***
I received an email from the CEO this morning. This is what it said:
Brian,
Thank you for your interest in the Executive Assistant role. I appreciate you taking the time for our interview and enjoyed our conversation. You’re sharp and I’m grateful you caught the typo on my website. Unfortunately, we’ve screened and interviewed many applicants (as I shared with you) for this role and have decided to go with someone else. Therefore we will not be offering you the position, but I do thank you again for your interest.
Oh well. After reading the original post my sister messaged me and said “Haha – probably won’t get that job”. She was right. Harumph.
