Ambush Interview
I applied to an in-house promotion opportunity, the position was the next step up from my current position and was available because my reporting senior had left the company for another job. Our new operations director told all of the in-house applicants that we were going to have to prepare and submit a strategic business plan and two other documents prior to our interviews (this was a completely new requirement for a promotion) but I slogged through it and within a week the op's director scheduled my interview.
Then the op's director cancelled our appointment and promised to reschedule. A week later the appointment was scheduled and when I went in for the appointment, the op's director wasn't there because they had forgotten the appointment. Later that day they came in and did some walking around and talking with some of the other employees in a different appointment and came up to me and said 'let's go talk'. We went to their office, they took the papers from me, put in down and said 'sell me'..........that was it, just 'sell me' (this is not a sales job so I was completely unprepared for how to proceed). I started talking about our cost savings, our process improvements, our increased efficiency and productivity and the director cut me off and said 'I don't want to hear about what makes you so good at your present job, I want to hear what makes you qualified for the promotion.' Then the director told me everything that I had done over the past two years which they didn't agree with or that had 'bothered' them (the director was just promoted to their position within the past 6 months from a lower position that I did not report to).
So without looking at what I had been required to prepare, and after berating me for about 20 minutes on why I wasn't who they were looking for 'I need a manager to come in with 100% fresh eyes' (sound like an outside hire on the way?), the director stood up, shook my hand and said 'good interview'. On the way out the office door I was told to prepare for our '2nd phase' by assembling topics related to process redundancy and outmoded procedure (I've been given until Friday the 4th of May to prepare).
Should I even bother or just tell them now that I'm no longer interested in further consideration? An interview scheduled twice, forgotten once, that turned into an airing of two year long grudges when I didn't even report to this person seems like a waste of time at this point (at least to me).
Hurt feelings and this person's bad attitude aside, there was an important gem in there.
'I don't want to hear about what makes you so good at your present job, I want to hear what makes you qualified for the promotion.'
If you do want this job (or any other down the road), that's where you need to focus. A promotion is an interesting thing. Chances are no one else would hire you for a job you haven't done yet either, but in a company where they know you, you have a chance to sell yourself and explain why you'd be great, even though you haven't done it yet. That's what they mean by "sell me". Interviews are all about sales. The product you're selling is yourself no matter what kind of job it is.
Tess
Sounds to me that they wanted to see what happens when you sweat and you did OK. Do I like that method of interviewing? No, but that is how some people do it. It may be an indication of what is in store for you.
The higher you go in an organization, the more heat you have to contend with. If you don't like it, don't go for the promotion and stay at the level at which you are now.
Also... when you are looking for a job, whether an outside job or a promotion, you are ALWAYS selling.