I applied online in mid-October. It took them one month to contact me and call me in for an interview. HR called me and we went over my resume. She said that she was impressed with my resume and that I'm overqualified for this position, considering that I was doing pretty much the same job. At the time, I was a contractor for Merck working at the same site. At the end of HR screening, she said that she will contact me within a couple of days to set up an interview. After a couple of days has passed, I haven't heard from her. After a week, I reached out to her. Then another week went by, I reached out to her again. At that moment, I didn't feel like reaching out to her again. Then she reached out to me and apologized for not responding. She said that if she hears anything from the hiring manager, she will reach out to me ASAP. Later that day, an administrative assistant reached out to me and set up an in-person interview for the following week.
During this interview, I met with 3 interviews (who would be co-workers) and the hiring manager. I had a 1:1 with an interviewer and hiring manager, and a group panel with 2 other interviewers. I thought the interview went well and they were impressed. Everyone was very friendly and the hiring manager was very upbeat. However, my gut feeling tells me that they would not think I will be a good fit for this group simply because of my age (late 20's). Everyone here is at least in the early 40's to mid 60's. If given the job offer, I would be working with those who could potentially be my parent. Because I was working for Merck as a contractor, I knew that a majority of the employees here are older and they tend to be biased.
After this interview, I haven't heard from the hiring manager for a month. She called my work number out of the blue to tell me that they decided to go with another candidate because she had more experience, which might be true. But I find that odd considering that I was told that they were impressed with my qualifications and that I was overqualified for this role. I thought being over qualified is a good thing? I felt that they were giving me false hopes and the entire process was PAINFUL. People take too long to make their decisions and they can lose great candidates from a lot of inactions.
