I applied for a communications job. I have no healthcare or eye care industry experience, but I’ve successfully done the work required of this role throughout my career. I sent my resume (which clearly shows my lack of industry experience) and was contacted by HR for a phone screen. Successfully completing that, I did a series of interviews with the hiring manager and team. I thought they all went well and I seemed to have a connection with each, a point further emphasized by the recruiter, who told me the team thought I brought a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and good ideas. Imagine my surprise then days later when I received a form email saying they were pursuing other candidates. I asked the recruiter what happened, and she said that despite how well everything had gone, they chose to advance candidates with industry experience. To me, that’s an unfortunate waste of everyone’s time given that this fact was known from the start. Also, I’d say this is a subtle indictment of the decision makers there, showing a lack of leadership and direction, and probably also indicative of a poor work environment given this poor leadership. In summary, don’t waste your time here if you don’t have relevant industry experience, and even in that case, be very careful given the apparent poor leadership from this team and the organization at large.