I've forgotten the name of the team(s) I'm being considered for — will asking the recruiter reflect poorly on me?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

So this is somewhat embarrassing...

I'm most of the way through a job application with "Company A" -- I've had phone screenings, on-sites, and then one final meet-and-greet with a bunch of hiring managers whose teams I would potentially be joining. So far so good and it looks like they may make me an offer. I met with the hiring managers and they mentioned their team names at the start of the conversation, and then we chatted for an hour or so on a huge number of topics.

Lo and behold, after a weekend, the names of the particular teams "Company A" had me meet with have slipped my mind. I'm very excited about the work the teams are doing, it's not a situation where I don't care / am uninterested, I just had a brain fart and forgot.

The recruiter is following up with me and wants to know if I'm leaning towards any particular team, but I'm blanking on what to say back since I don't remember the team names and I'm worried it will reflect poorly on me if I ask, and might impact my salary negotiations.

Is there a tactful way to recover from this? I've tried googling the people I met with (ironically I remember all their names) but they do not list their specific teams on their online profiles and there is no public company directory. I am leaning towards one particular team, however the manager I met with who covers that team covers other teams as well, so simply saying "John Doe's Team" isn't specific enough to answer the question.

manpreet 2 years ago

Is there a tactful way to recover from this?

I don't see how asking for the names of the teams could harm your application in any way if you do it professionally.

You may not know the names of the teams, but you know the names of the teammates and also what sort of projects they do. In case you do have a preference in your mind already, perhaps try replying this:

Hello Mr. Recruiter. I liked very much meeting with you last time, it helped me get a good idea of what you guys do.

As of now, I think that I feel particular interest in the team (whose name I happen to forget) where they are working on [X], the one where Mr. Cygnus is on. If there is anything else you may need feel free to reach out.