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Questions to ask a company during a job interview

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Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#211

Post by hysan »

jcadam wrote: post #99

Problem: Interviewers lie. I once interviewed with a company that brought me into a new, shiny, well-appointed building on the corporate campus for an interview. I did well answering their questions. And they answered my usual questions correctly. Stuff like "Can developers here choose their own tools?" and "My title is going to be Lead Engineer, will I actually be a Lead Engineer?" After I was hired, I found out eve…

Bingo.

At my last job, I was told several lies (even during negotiations) that made the job sound far far better than it was. And this wasn't just from HR/recruitment. These were answers that I got from the many levels of upper management that I had to interview with.

I tried to reconcile those lies after settling in and having outstanding performance reviews. No dice. Ultimately ended up just leaving the company.

Lesson learned - Don't let them negotiate you into their range. Companies will lie to make their company sound like the shiniest, best place to work in the world.

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#212

Post by dinsjg3434 »

jcadam wrote: post #99

Problem: Interviewers lie. I once interviewed with a company that brought me into a new, shiny, well-appointed building on the corporate campus for an interview. I did well answering their questions. And they answered my usual questions correctly. Stuff like "Can developers here choose their own tools?" and "My title is going to be Lead Engineer, will I actually be a Lead Engineer?" After I was hired, I found out eve…

Bait - Switching/ vaporware/ to straight cheating. Usually seen in India. NEVER TRUST ANY THING COMING OUT OF AN INDIAN MANAGER

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#213

Post by scarface74 »

iamthepieman wrote: post #164
scarface74 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PTO is nothing special. It’s just another benefit you can place a monetary amount on. If they won’t give you more than two weeks paid time off and they will let you take unpaid time off, add the amount that week of unpaid time off is worth to your required salary - of course take into account that PTO is a non taxed benefit. I feel the same way about 401K matching.

yeah sure but depending on the company it's easier to take PTO than UPTO. People expect you to take all your PTO generally. That's not always true if it's unpaid.

I know, and I said and they will let you take unpaid time off

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#214

Post by wilsonrocks »

kingbirdy wrote: post #153
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that apply if your working conditions and responsibilities were to be encoded in your contract?

Most employees (at least in the US) aren't given a contract, they're given an offer of employment. This provides no guarantees as to what work you'll do, or the conditions you'll do it in, and both can change at any time.

In the UK, your contract is formed by: the thing you signed, any statutory law stuff, and any custom and practice stuff in your workplace. Generally speaking however, it's the same as what other people in this subthread have pointed out: you probably can't do a lot if the employer changes your contract, either officially or unofficially. Continuing to go to work implies acceptance and well. You could attempt to take the employer to an employment tribunal,but they're expensive (even more expensive thanks to the recent Conservative governments)

Source: used to be a trade union official. If there was a union for tech jobs, they might be able to pay for tribunal costs, but when I did it we only took them on if there looked to be a greater than fifty percent chance of winning.

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#215

Post by toast0 »

dominotw wrote: post #206
toast0 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an occasional interviewee and mostly an interviewer, I would agree that the company has the leverage. However, the interviewee should be using the interview to find out what they need to know, to the extent that's possible. Is tooling important to you? Ask about that. Do you want to push to prod like a cowboy, or does that repulse you? Ask about that. Whatever frustrates you about your current job, you can try to…

> Is tooling important to you? Ask about that. Do you want to push to prod like a cowboy, or does that repulse you? Ask about that. So at FAANGs for example, there are hundreds of teams that do all of kinds of stuff. You aren't necessarily interviewing directly with people from that team.

Yeah -- so if knowing you're going to do before you accept a job is important to you; maybe they're not a good place -- or maybe you can ask enough people during the interviewing to be comfortable you'll find an appropriate team during the post hiring interviews; or ask about being pre-allocated to a team.

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#216

Post by snegu »

blaser-waffle wrote: post #208
snegu wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you working on my project? I'm trying to get out, but not having much luck. I wonder if recruiters are turned off by the fact that I'm looking for another job again after just a few months.

How long were you at the job before this (crappy) one? 3.5 years at gig X and then 5 months at crappy gig Y isn't an issue -- new gig wasn't a fit, easy to play that off. "I tried to make it work but it felt like a bait and switch" would be an acceptable answer. But a track record of ~1 year or less at places says that you're the problem or you make a lot of bad choices.

5 years at my last job (split between two different roles), so I should be good there.

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#217

Post by damontal »

Diederich wrote: post #120
reallydontask wrote: post #69

> Is there a support / marketing / other call-heavy team close to my new team? This is so important. I can probably live with most open plan set ups, sure there will be annoying times, but if there is a call-heavy team nearby, forget it. I refuse to wear noise cancelling headphones all day long. FWIW, interviewers will blatantly lie. I asked at an interview about equipment quality and was told that they'd not heard a…

> I refuse to wear noise cancelling headphones all day long. May I ask why? Even when I work at home alone, and there are no stray noises at all, I'll still wear my headphones when I want to really focus. Years of mental conditioning has led me to a place where it's much easier to deeply focus when I'm wearing headphones listening to white noise.

Noise cancelling, at least the Bose version I've experienced, gives a feeling of pressure in the ears. I've read that others experience this, though obviously not everyone. I can only handle it for short amounts of time before I'm tearing them off my head.

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#218

Post by snegu »

wikibob wrote: post #193
snegu wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you working on my project? I'm trying to get out, but not having much luck. I wonder if recruiters are turned off by the fact that I'm looking for another job again after just a few months.

What city are you in? Across the major markets in the USA and Europe I’ve never seen a hotter market. If you aren’t getting responses I would ask someone for help with how you are marketing yourself. Post your LinkedIn profile if you’d like

I'm in a rather isolated place (I work remotely) so I need to find another remote gig. I'm also a UX designer, not a developer, so the market isn't quite as hot.

The nice thing about remote though, is that it's easy for me to disconnect emotionally from how shitty my current job is.

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#219

Post by oblio »

jrjarrett wrote: post #65

How much annual / personal / sick / parental / unpaid leave is available? This is a great question; when I have searched for jobs, it's one of the more important benefits to me. Sadly, however, I've found most places have gone to "PTO" -- combining time off for illness and vacation into one bank -- how have others successfully negotiated an appropriate level of time off? (Context: For a very long time, I worked for c…

It's a bit sad though. In many countries you don't have to ask this because there're legally enforced minimums.

Re: Questions to ask a company during a job interview

#220

Post by theflyinghorse »

sgustard wrote: post #196
jbob2000 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This only works if you're interviewing with decision makers. At a larger organization, I don't think the person you're interviewing with would have any capacity to answer these (which could be a red flag for you, but also a very limiting one).

What if as a condition to accept a job offer you request a meeting with the CEO? Would the company refuse or do they value you enough to make it happen? I have never taken a job without talking to a top executive. You get a view of the company bigger than your team, you get to ask those business questions your manager may not know, and you have a head start on making good connections with upper management.

Who's the CEO? At my last company (fintech with customers from Google to Exxon) CEO would absolutely meet you even if just for a second if you asked, but I doubt CEO at Google or Exxon would.
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