He had done three interviews he thought were slam dunks in this contract cycle. Nothing came back. Then came the week he was sick — no voice worth trusting, an hour of sleep a night. He asked to move the interview to video.
He sat in the meeting room alone for fifteen minutes. The interviewers had mixed up the link and emailed to ask where he was. When they finally connected, he was running at what he described as ten percent: asking them to repeat questions, losing words, stuttering over the names of programmes he uses every day. He called it his worst interview since he was eighteen.
He skipped the thank-you email. He assumed it was over.
Days later, they asked for a reference. Then they made an offer.