Failed the culture fit check because I do not have a favorite motivational quote
Spent an hour yesterday listening to a head of talent acquisition tell me that my seven years of technical infrastructure management looked great on paper, but she was deeply concerned about my lack of outward enthusiasm. This was for a senior backend infrastructure role where the job description literally demanded someone who can work autonomously in a server room and handle high stress deployment environments without hand holding.
The first part of the interview was with a senior engineer who actually knew his stuff, we talked shop, went over some server configurations, and it was completely fine. But then he hands me over to this corporate culture lead whose entire job seems to be policing facial expressions. She started asking these bizarre abstract questions about how I visualize my personal growth within the ecosystem of their corporate family and what kind of team activities get me hyped for the work week.
I told her straight up that I am a quiet guy, I like solving complex technical routing problems, keeping the network alive, and going home to my family. Apparently that was the wrong answer. She frowned, looked at my resume like it was covered in grease, and noted that she did not see any volunteer work or leadership camp certifications on my profile. She literally asked how I planned to inspire the junior staff if I am just sitting there managing servers all day.
The absolute peak of the comedy was when she asked me what my favorite motivational quote was and how it guides my daily workflow. I just stared at her. I thought she was joking but she was totally deadpan. I told her I do not have one, but I usually just prefer things to work according to the technical documentation so we do not have to do emergency rollbacks at two in the morning .
She sighed, wrote something down in her notebook, and gave me this pitying look before launching into a ten minute speech about how they are a high energy tribe and they need people who bring a vibrant presence to the office floor. I got the automated rejection email about four hours later stating that while my technical skills are exceptional, they decided to go with a candidate who aligns closer with their core interactive values.
They basically rejected a solid engineer because I do not smile at spreadsheets or collect corporate buzzwords.