Did the interviewer hint that I'm not getting job?

[Squirl]

Are you considerably younger than the HR person who voiced concern? If so, I would more take this as a "mentoring" type statement than as a rejection. Often, the more seasoned HR types get a little "rounder" at the edges and begin to be human again after years of staffing. They start to believe that they can add value to both candidate and internal customer. Usually they are wrong on both ends and do best to protect the company's interest in the process. Just sayin'

[Wordsmith12]

cleasach - I don't feel she was suggesting I stay put. She's probably suggesting I think twice about it. Why she would do this I don't know.

Squirl - The person I referenced wasn't HR, but the hiring manager herself. And, yes, she is considerably older.

[lavalake]

I don't think that most interviewers remember that candidates will be weighing every word that they say, looking for positive or negative "signs," and therefore, they don't really think about how their statements will affect candidates. For example, at my former company, I was part of a two-person interview team interviewing recent graduates for entry-level positions. We were talking to one candidate with unique language skills and my co-interviewer kept raving about how great these language skills were and how valuable the candidate would be - to the candidate's face. However, the language skills weren't going to override some other missing qualifications necessary to be hired - something my colleague knew but was apparently just not thinking about in the interview. I don't think my colleague meant to mislead the candidate or imply that a job was all but guaranteed; I think he just wanted to be encouraging and emphasize that the candidate should really try and sell those skills, because we did really like the candidate as a person. Unfortunately, I think the candidate left with a definite impression that a job offer would be forthcoming, and we ultimately had to reject him.

If I could have kicked my co-interviewer under the table to get him to stop talking, I would have. Like I said, there was no deliberate attempt to mislead the candidate - he just wasn't thinking about the effect of his statements. Unfortunately, I think a lot of interviewers are like this and I really don't think you should overanalyze what they say in the interview. Now, if they tell you straight out that you have a job offer, well that's a different story.

Good luck!

[neekah18]

I had an interview for a job I really wanted. I was on the second round and immediately going in I felt that their minds were already made up but I believed my stellar recommendations and easy going interview style would butter them up. When I got home I emailed my thank you's and received this response from one of the interviewers "I can see you are very outgoing and very well liked and will do great wherever my career takes me....:" I knew right then and there I didnt get the job. I was on the fence as well because during the interview she asked if I planned on going for my MBA. I was thinking "Miss this is not an MBA necessary position and if I can't seem to acquire a permanent decent paying job in this economy with my Bachelor's degree, what makes you think I want to go further in debt with Sallie Mae to obtain my MBA "

Like other posters have said keep looking for other jobs and don't put all of your eggs in one basket