E: Unfortunate outcome of exciting Schibsted interview

UPDATE MARCH 19th: I received an e-mail today, apologizing for not bringing me further in the application process to Schibsted's management trainee positions. My profile while be forwarded to other sister/daughter firms of Schibsted, but for now I am out. There is naturally a bit of disappointment, as I have gradually gotten more and more eager about this job the more I have thought of it. But at the same time it does not surprise me, and if I was not going to make it all the way, I prefer to take my farewells now. The rest of the entry is what I wrote Saturday after the interview.

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Yesterday I had my professional job interview debute with 34 other bright minds for the 5-8 management trainee positions at Schibsted. About the same number of contestant was challenged Thursday, also picked from total of about 600 applicants.

While on the train from Bergen Monday, a SMS ticked in from an unstored number. The receiptant was Schibsted, the media concern, which found me eligible for an interview Friday.

Thursday I visited the career center at uni, sitting in for almost an hour with one of the professional employees who gave me a challenging, but very interesting and fun, time practicing tough questions and my ability to defend or explain myself of why I wrote what I wrote in the application, or why I had anything to to in the company.

Friday came, and began about 5:30 AM, as I woke up thinking it was way later. I did not sleep properly after that. 10 AM I was one of the first five given a 20 minute individual interview on my background, self and why I why I applied for Schibsted. Compared to the preperation, I was almost dissapointed on how easy of a time I was given. Other interviews, I found out later, had been a tad more pressuring – which would also open up for giving a more reflected and broader view on who I am and what I stand for.

Then there was waiting time till 1 PM. All trainee candidates got their lunch covered by Schibsted, and a group of us headed for a cafe (Bacchus) in cental Oslo. People had been flown in from around Norway, and nearly half from various locations in Sweden.

At 1 PM everyone gathered to present themselves. The background, education and skills of the various members standing up were impressive. As all had to possess at least a master degree, the accumulated knowledge/ability in the meeting room was high. We then split into roughly five groups to work with two case studies for half an hour each. After given the topic question, we had 20 minutes to discuss and 10 to present the result to the observers. How to do, present and organize ourselves had to be figured out within the group. The scene is demanding as you want to complete the task, not bossing other people around, nor going mute in terms of putting yourself on display for the observers. In my group I felt we worked fairly well together. The questions were “Is foreign media ownership a problem?” and “Should Schibsted buy TV Norge (“TV Norway”, the nation’s third largest TV channel).

After a brief sum-up with everyone around 1,5 hours later, we were free to take off. The “judges” have a tough task of determining who will carry on till the next round. As none of the applicants will know before Monday, we parted with a humurous “see you next week” comment. I am personally eager as anything to proceed, this seems like such an exciting job, but will not be majorily crushed if I get a negative answer next week. Without any form of marketing and economics on a higher level, I think I would have needed more time/tougher questions to convince the panel. And even if I did proceed there is still two more rounds to “win”. And there are always more options out there.

I will update this entry as soon as I know the outcome.