Applied for an AI Product Owner role and from the very beginning I was clear I don’t have direct corporate AI experience, but I’ve been building small-scale AI apps on my own. Never claimed otherwise.
The interview was scheduled a week in advance. I prepared as much as i could because it was a new kind of role. Tried to dig deep in AI. Interview day, it gets postponed an hour before. Rescheduled to the next day and then finally held.
After my introduction, the interviewer directly jumped into it. I was asked if I had professional AI experience. When I clarified I hadn’t worked on commercial AI products, the interview was ended right there. I was told that this is only AI specific so "let's not waste our time and end it here".
I understand you want a person with AI experience but this could have been avoided if my profile had been properly reviewed beforehand. Instead, time and effort went to waste, and I was expected to adjust to last-minute changes. In 8 years of my career, this has been one of the most disappointing interview experiences.