Interview follow-up

And... no... that doesn't say "Follow-up Interview."

This showed up in my email inbox, late yesterday afternoon:

Hello Robert - 

Thank you for your interest in employment opportunities with [us]. We enjoyed meeting you recently at our group interview and hope you left with the same level of enthusiasm that we all share for our company.

We had some really tough decisions to make and, at this time, do not have a position to offer you. We will keep your application on file and should our situation change, we will contact you.

Again, thank you for your interest in [us]. We wish you much success in your job search.

So here's the thing... When I applied with the company, I had applied online for a Managerial position. I was contacted by the company and told that they had already filled the Managerial positions (apparently at least 2-3 weeks prior to my finding the online posting, since one of the guys who conducted the interview was "brand new" and had been with the company for 5 weeks). I wrote back and stated that I would be interested in some of the more administrative positions (in-store Training and HR--which I've done a lot of in the past). 

By the time I went to the interview I had already spoken via email and on the phone with two different people. Through those conversations, I made my desire to look into these less-sales-oriented positions very clear. And, yet, through the dynamics of the group interview, we were all put into the same pool of candidates for basic sales positions. When asked about what we wanted from the company, our only choices were full-time or part-time. Never were we asked about specific job position desires.

Now I have to say that I've been on both sides of the interview process. I know that group interviews are a good way to get a general feeling for the pool of candidates. But it would seem to me that the two interviewers probably had no idea what specific skills any of us were bringing in. So someone like me, who has done staff scheduling for staffs of various sizes, as well as teaching and staff training for multiple years, probably didn't make it to the next interview because I didn't come across as "sales" enough. It makes me wonder if the woman who worked in Target corporate is getting a second interview; or whether the woman with years of retail experience, who was meek when speaking, is getting one. 

I guess I should be happy that at least this wasn't a job I was dying for. And I can always look at it as "interview practice" for whatever comes along next, right? But I do wonder how different the outcome would have been if the interview had been one-on-one.

Oh, well. Back to sending my resume out to see what computer program will scan it for "applicable keywords" this week. 

I'll keep you posted. (oh. sorry. no pun intended.)