A day prior to the interview, the HR called me and asked if I would be okay working not in a Team Lead role(the role in which I am currently working at my present organization) at Kronos. I clearly told her,"Yes, I would be perfectly fine because for me learning is more important than being in the role in which I am." Subsequent to the discussion, the HR asked me to come to the Noida office for the interview today-April 6,2016. I reached the Kronos office for the interview today and the interview started 2 hours later, which is okay since I understand people have their own work at an organization. What I didn't find too impressive was the fact that a candidate who reached 45 minutes after me, was interviewed before me. Coming to the interview itself, the interviewer asked me about my role in my current organization and I explained the same to him in detail, outlining how order management was an integral part of the work that I did and thus would make me a perfect fit for this role at Kronos. He asked me a few more details and I explained the same to him satisfactorily. I think the interview went south when the interviewer asked me the reason for taking a step back from my current "Team Leader" role and switching to an Individual Contributor role. I explained to him that as a Team Leader, I didn't have sole discretionary power at my current organization to do anything I wanted. I also had to report to higher management for the work I did. The organization that I currently work for is a relatively small organization and hence the opportunities for growth are high, more so in terms of job roles. Say someone like me joined as an Inside Sales Executive and given my exemplary performance was promoted to a Team Lead-Operations within an year of joining. Is it my mistake that I was promoted to a team lead position only in 10 months? Apparently, it was since as per him," You became a team lead only in 10 months and I became a team lead after 10 years." I tried to explain to him that the organization that he worked for was a large organization in which the growth in terms of job roles is relatively lesser than the growth in terms of job roles in small organization. I also tried to explain to him that while the work that you do matters, the company you work for equally matters, which was one of the primary reasons I wanted to change my current organization. He didn't accept it and said only your job mattered and the company you work for didn't matter one bit. In a competitive economy like India, the company you work for highly matters since the people applying to jobs outnumber the number of jobs itself. Time and time again in the interview, I was reminded of the fact that I was "overqualified" for the job by the interviewer. This assumes significance since I had already highlighted to him earlier that what mattered to me what I learn at Kronos and the growth opportunities that it can offer me. He had replied to me that he didn't want me to work in a role where, "You have 4 hours of work and for the remaining 5 hours, you play Table Tennis." Now I have two questions: 1. If I was overqualified, why was I even called for the job interview? I had to skip going to work today for a 2 and a half hour commute(one side amidst heavy traffic) from Gurgaon to Noida. 2. Isn't highlighting the fact that this role is for someone who only has to work for 4 hours and play Table Tennis for the remaining amount of time a deterrent to what Kronos stands for- Workforce Innovation? Prior to going for the interview, I had amassed some knowledge about Kronos and was excited by the growth prospects. The interview itself was a big let-down. At my current organization, I interview people for Operations Analyst and while I understand that some of them may be "overqualified", I try to accommodate them into some other role or think something about their future career rather than saying they are a "great resource" and continuing to reject them because they are "overqualified". I watched a video on YouTube in which people were saying how there are so many growth opportunities at Kronos. I had done my homework and I had expected the same to be done by the people who were involved in the interview process at Kronos, which sadly wasn't the case. There are a few times in life when you know that things went awry and could have gone far better. This was such an instance for me and the only thing I can find solace in is the fact that it was not a loss to me today but loss to Kronos to lose a "great resource" like me today. I will do something constructive with my life because I understand what my capabilities are and how I can utilize them to further my career. I wanted you to know that, all of that because Kronos stands for something much better than that.