How I Was Terrible at Interviewing. And I’ll Never Forget This Moment.

I’ve interviewed at over 100 companies across my career.

That’s not an exaggeration.

Early on, I was really bad at interviewing.

Not “a little nervous” bad.

Not “needs polish” bad.

I mean unprepared, no conviction, not really sure what I wanted bad.

There’s one interview I’ll never forget.

Midway through my answer to a question that seemed harmless, he asked me who my role models were at the time and I spoke about Yao Ming and Ichiro Suzuki but I couldn’t quite communicate the impact that these trend setters had on me and why it was important…

I didn’t quite hit the mark.

I remember looking up and locking eyes with the hiring manager.

His expression said everything.

Not anger.

Not frustration.

Just a quiet look that felt like, Why are you wasting my time?

I knew I had to change. I had to stop blaming the circumstances. Being a victim. Blaming the economy. Whatever it was. I knew something had to be different moving forward.

I walked out knowing I had completely bombed it.

For a long time, that moment haunted me.

I replayed it.

Judged myself for it.

Questioned whether I belonged in those rooms at all.

But something shifted after enough reps.

I realized interviewing isn’t about being impressive.

It’s about being clear and decision.

It’s not about saying the right things.

It’s about really believing in myself, my capabilities, that life has prepared me for this upcoming challenge.

Every bad interview taught me something I couldn’t have learned any other way.

How to structure a story.

How to slow down.

How to listen and be curious instead of perform. I was interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me.

Eventually, interviews stopped feeling like auditions.

They started feeling like conversations.

Today, when people ask how I got good at interviewing, the answer is simple.

I earned it the hard way.

Through embarrassment.

Through rejection.

Through moments I wish I could erase.

And I wouldn’t trade those moments for anything.

Because they taught me confidence that didn’t depend on approval.

If you’ve ever walked out of an interview replaying everything you said wrong, you’re not broken.

You’re just early in the process.

Reps don’t just build skill.

They build identity.

Curious.

What’s a moment you’ll never forget because it forced you to get better?

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete.”

— James 1:4