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Interviewer was wrong about an interview question - correct him later?

horseshoe

horseshoe

Joined
1/4/12
Messages
15
Points
13
I recently had an interview and the interviewer told me an incorrect answer to one of the questions, but I didn't have time at the moment to verify it. After the interview I worked it out and he was incorrect, but should I attempt to contact him about it? I feel like this would let him know I was interested in his questions and keep my name fresh in his mind. Any thoughts are appreciated!
 
horseshoe said:
I recently had an interview and the interviewer told me an incorrect answer to one of the questions, but I didn't have time at the moment to verify it. After the interview I worked it out and he was incorrect, but should I attempt to contact him about it? I feel like this would let him know I was interested in his questions and keep my name fresh in his mind. Any thoughts are appreciated!
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go for it
 
Be very careful how you word that email. Telling an interviewer "you were wrong" most often will come across as you trying to "one-up" him; an instant rejection. As I said, really think the wording of your email through. If you think you nailed the rest of the interview I would not even mention it.
 
While you're at it, you might throw in some helpful fashion advice as well. Let him know that he could look a lot snappier without that mustard tie.
 
horseshoe said:
I recently had an interview and the interviewer told me an incorrect answer to one of the questions, but I didn't have time at the moment to verify it. After the interview I worked it out and he was incorrect, but should I attempt to contact him about it? I feel like this would let him know I was interested in his questions and keep my name fresh in his mind. Any thoughts are appreciated!
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I strongly recommend against this. People have egos, and people in the financial industry usually have big egos.
 
mhy said:
I strongly recommend against this. People have egos, and people in the financial industry usually have big egos.
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Unfortunately this is true.

@horseshoe
But if you are invited to the 2nd round (and meet this interviewer again) you may tell him that his answer was incorrect, but tell it him as politically correct as possible :)

I once had a similar situation: I was offered an algorithmic brainteaser, the task was to solve the problem computationally optimally.
My solution was correct but not optimal, an interviewer had a faster algo. However, I have later noticed that he forgot to check a special case. I was invited to the 2nd round and (very politically correctly) told him about this nuance. His impression was very positive
(and yes, I got the job :))
 
I sent him a polite e-mail with a quick latex'd solution. Got an e-mail rejection the next day :/ I suppose I should be wary of my own ego!
 
horseshoe said:
I sent him a polite e-mail with a quick latex'd solution. Got an e-mail rejection the next day :/ I suppose I should be wary of my own ego!
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Yea, should have been careful. When interviewing jr people I always "make an obvious mistake" to see how they handle it. If you really wanted too, you could ask a follow up on why your answer is not correct. Personally I had a similar situation for a senior role. The guy was totally wrong. I just let it pass. His ego would not have liked me pouting it out. So I moved on
 
Sonny D said:
When interviewing jr people I always "make an obvious mistake" to see how they handle it.
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That's an incredibly annoying thing to do to an interviewee who is already stressed out by the situation.
 
mhy said:
That's an incredibly annoying thing to do to an interviewee who is already stressed out by the situation.
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Yea because work is easy and I should hold your hand. I think you are in the wrong industry
 
It's pretty simple, telling your interviewer is a high vol move. They'll love you or hate you. If they already love you, why risk it? On the other hand, if the interview was ehhh or they hated you, there's nothing to lose.
 
At the end of the day with this kind of thing, I think it all comes down to style.... a friendly email along the lines of "Hi John, I really enjoyed meeting you today!!! I've been thinking a lot about those questions you asked me, and I really do think that the answer to one of them was so-and-so... In any event I really appreciated the opportunity to meet you, and I'd really love to be able to discuss this with you further" could result in an "I like this kid."

A pretentious one along the lines of "please pardon me good sir, but on that question you asked me today (that I expect you probably don't even remember) I'm pretty sure that you were blatantly wrong, and here's my 10 page explanation as to why" would likely just result in a "fuck off, kid... you're annoying me." ;)
 
Or just refer to Hull page 345.
:D

"A good interviewer is largely uninterested in whether the answer is right, but the quality of the thinking that led you there. So when asked questions like this show how you decide what to do."

Dominic Connor
 
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