Too ambitious for Company?

cold_filter

Right so went for an interview last week, got a great vibe off the company gave a good interview MD and HR manager, anyway they send me an email saying they think i am too ambitious for the role?? I mean WTF do they want someone with no ambition? The job advertisement said they wanted someone progressive and ambitious!

They said they would feel i would get bored doing the role and didnt want me leaving in a month or 2! So i emaile back saying i wouldn't be applying for these sorts of jobs if i was going to get bored.

Man it pissed me off i really wanted that job!!
anyone else have any similar experiences?

Tom Dunne

Ah yes, so familiar, except it happened to me after I got the job.

In my day job, I work in the public sector. Say no more. When I started first, I was told to tone down my enthusiasm. I was told the was clear demarcation on who does what around here and what you can and can't do.

The mentality was summarised beautifully in another discussion with a member of staff I don't work directly with. She mentioned something about work organisation after we move premises this year, I replied "if I'm still working here then". She replied, "oh that's right - you have ambition". :rolleyes:

It's utterly frustrating, I can only begin to understand how you feel.

cold_filter

I know what you mean, they seen my CV and my cover letter has in it that i am ambitious. They call me for interview and i said i really want to gain experience in this field, they asked me where did i see myself in 5 years, 5 years is a long way off so i told them where i saw myself obviously they didnt like it.

Tom Dunne

cold_filter wrote:

i told them where i saw myself obviously they didnt like it.

It would be interesting to find out what exactly they didn't like about your ambition.

Was it an entry-level position that they wanted somebody who would come in, do the job, go home and not much more? What kind of job was it (careful not to name anyone or the company)? Is it a big company, or a small Irish company?

cold_filter

Its a project management job with a small but growing company, i have a degree in computer science and some good 6 months pm experience,

It was kind of entry level but they wanted someone with experience in pm

Tom Dunne

TBH, trying to brush you off by telling you that you are too ambitious sounds a bit fishy. Sounds like they don't have the balls to be straight with you.

leeroybrown

It might well be a case of them being honest with you but not expressing the reasoning behind it adequately. Perhaps they've had previous experience of particularly ambitious hires using them as a short term staging point for their next career jump. Perhaps they recognise that because they are growing they don't have a large enough skill pool to deal with a badly timed employee loss and have placed employee retention high on their requirement list.

I can understand your frustration and see that they may well have lost out but if they (rightly or wrongly) see a chance you being offered a much bigger salary and moving within 12 months then I can also understand them going for a perceived safer option.

cold_filter

Thats the thing i explained my reasons for wanting the job and said i would see myself doing that role for at least 2 years so i could get a great deal of experience, and then i said once i had that exp i would move into a more senior role in the company!