The Interview That Felt Like a Full-Length Movie
There I was, walking into what would become one of the wildest, funniest, and somehow horrifying interview experiences I’ve had so far.
It all started with the first screening round — a one-hour phone interview. I expected a casual HR discussion, but instead it became a rapid-fire technical quiz. Git, Jenkins, automation frameworks, Java, Selenium, DOM, tool differences… the questions just kept coming. By the end of the call, my brain had completely shut down. I honestly wondered if I had just attended an interview or survived an examination.
A few days later, after I had almost forgotten about it, they called me again.
“Please come for the next round.”
Well… here we go again.
The adventure began long before I reached the office. From my place, I traveled to the nearby ICF bus depot, boarded a bus to Tiruvanmiyur, and unknowingly signed up for what felt like a Chennai city tour.
The bus happily introduced me to Ega Theatre, College Road, T. Nagar, Saidapet, Madhya Kailash, Adyar Depot, and finally Tiruvanmiyur Depot. A simple journey somehow stretched to almost one and a half hours.
After getting down, I crossed the road and followed the directions — straight, second left, right, left, and then an immediate left.
That’s when I finally reached the office.
Or rather…
A house.
Not just any house.
The office was operating from what I was told was the former residence of actor Sarathkumar. It was my first time seeing a celebrity’s former home up close, and it was fascinating to see how a residential property had been converted into a workplace.
Tiny office.
Homely atmosphere.
Completely unexpected.
I had spent days preparing Java programs, testing concepts, framework explanations, and step-by-step answers.
Instead…
They handed me a ten-page scenario.
“You have ten minutes.”
I read as fast as I could.
Then they started asking questions — not technical ones — but questions to evaluate my articulation, comprehension, and ability to paraphrase what I had just read.
My brain froze.
I had mentally prepared for “Tell me about yourself,” coding questions, testing scenarios, and automation concepts.
Not this.
The interviewer, who had a US accent, patiently asked the simplest questions, yet my mind kept going blank because I was prepared for an entirely different interview pattern.
After around five questions…
He politely showed me the way out.
I genuinely thought I had been rejected.
I walked all the way to the main road, accepted my fate, and was already standing near a juice shop when the HR called.
“Where are you?”
Apparently…
I still had another interview.
So I walked all the way back.
By then, everyone had gone for lunch.
I waited another thirty minutes.
While waiting, I made two interesting observations.
First, finding the restroom inside a house converted into an office wasn’t exactly straightforward.
Second…
They actually had a lift inside the house.
That fascinated me more than the interview itself.
Finally, after lunch, I was called in for the last round with the QA Manager.
He looked like someone who had spent decades in the software industry.
The moment he picked up my resume, it felt less like an interview and more like an autopsy.
Every project.
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Every technology.
Every timeline.
Every line.
Nothing escaped him.
My poor resume had already died several times during previous interviews, but this time it received a complete forensic examination.
Oddly enough, he was one of the most encouraging interviewers I’ve met.
Throughout the discussion, he kept saying things like:
“Good.”
“Nice.”
“Yes.”
“Great.”
Those little words made the atmosphere much more comfortable, even though he was thoroughly dissecting every single point on my resume.
It almost felt like he was cheering on an anxious student while still making sure she actually knew what she had written.
Before all these rounds, the HR had confidently told me that I was almost selected and that they expected me to join as early as the next day.
Reality had different plans.
After the interviews, I was simply told,
“We’ll collect the feedback from both interviewers and get back to you.”
Forty-eight hours later…
Silence.
No update.
No rejection.
No selection.
Just…
Ghosted.
But wait.
The story still wasn’t over.
I rushed home, washed my face, opened my laptop, and immediately attended another interview — this time with Societe Generale.
Ironically, the questions were much simpler.
Unfortunately, my brain had already used up all its battery in the previous interviews.
Even the easiest questions suddenly felt difficult. I found myself explaining why something was used while completely forgetting the syntax I had revised countless times.
Needless to say…
That interview also didn’t end in my favor.
So the final score looked something like this:
- One company ghosted me.
- One company rejected me.
- One very exhausted candidate returned home wondering what exactly had happened.
As if that wasn’t enough, something strange started happening after these interviews.
Every time an interview gets scheduled lately, I seem to develop intermittent headaches and fever. Whether it’s stress, anxiety, burnout, or simply my body protesting against interview season, I honestly don’t know.
The merry-go-round isn’t stopping yet.
I have more interviews lined up this Saturday and Monday.
Let’s see where the next ride takes me.
If job hunting has taught me anything, it’s this:
Sometimes the journey is far more dramatic than the destination. One day you’re touring an entire city by bus, reading ten-page case studies in a celebrity’s former home turned office, having your resume dissected like a medical specimen, getting ghosted, getting rejected, and somehow still finding the energy to prepare for the next interview.
Maybe that’s what resilience looks like.
Or maybe…
It’s just another chapter in the wonderfully unpredictable life of a job seeker.
