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Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

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Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#61

Post by SkyPuncher »

noblethrasher wrote: post #59
SkyPuncher wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar thing happen with a well-known messaging app startup I interviewed with. This company had me do an initial technical screen (2-hours of work) and expressed great interest in the work I did. They asked me to complete a follow on "work sample" which I promptly completed with extras (error handling, specs, etc). After completing the work sample (a non-trivial amount of effort), they suddenly decided they…

That’s disgusting, and I’m really sorry to have read that happened to you or anyone else. My policy is that anyone that completes the technical screen (2 – 4 hours of work) gets an on-site interview. Just this morning, I had to spend about 20 minutes debugging a candidate’s code to get it to both build and run, but he’s still getting invited for an on-site.

I don't care about being turned away (I did a very similar project for another company, that I now happily work for).

However, it's infuriating to have spent so much time just to learn that the engineering team didn't want me anyways. If I got rejected for a bad work sample - that's fine. Getting rejected because the hiring manager couldn't be bothered to look at your resume before assigning tasks - not cool.

-----

Good on you for bringing candidates in. Technical screens are tough and can be mis-understood by candidates. They should only be a tool to support other data points.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#62

Post by zcw100 »

throw_7893456 wrote: post #45
kstenerud wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happens a lot. Even Google ghosted me after an all-day onsite interview in Mountain View in 2015.

Microsoft did the same to me, the same year. Product owner/manager position.

Bloomberg did it to me. Even blocked my phone number. I figured that out when I changed my caller id. It was back in the day when VoIP was new and they didn't expect that someone could do that. It was worth hearing the panic on the voice when they realized who it was.

The only reason I called was because they stiffed my the reimbursement for travel expenses which they had agreed to pay for. The HR turnover was so high that everyone I had talked to before the interview was gone by the time I put in for the reimbursement.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#64

Post by shadow-banned »

hinkley wrote: post #60
shadow-banned wrote: post #6

Experienced this at a local tech company that will remain nameless. They're in the logistics space. They enable fast shipping for merchants. Did 10+ hours of a challenge project - something I would have charged $5,000+ for, including a channel-specific attribution model (with defense of my choice), a complete onboarding campaign flow with timing, and sample email creative, lead scoring model, and a bunch of pedantic…

Fragile egos foster ageism. I didn't work anywhere near this hard, but the outcome reminds me of the One that Got Away last cycle. Literally up the street from me, a company doing mapping software was looking for a lead. They had a lot of junior to mid-level people and they were having some code quality concerns. But they were looking for someone who could lead, mentor, and was already a GIS expert (which I am not).…

Bingo. You dodged a bullet bud.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#65

Post by rconti »

tpmx wrote: post #58
jnwatson wrote: post #8

I'm a software developer turned temporary recruiter for a startup (just hired last position yay!). The number one reason why I don't give feedback anymore is the candidate's response. It is almost universally negative. Candidates want to get into an argument about their skills or performance. Now, everyone gets a form letter, and I don't deviate from that.

I've been interviewing job applicants for a very long time (15 years or so). I've never given any detailed feedback, but I have made sure that they at least get a "sorry, we can't offer you a job" form letter quickly. Noone has ever complained, except: At one job, we did run into a pretty annoying situation. We were recruiting mostly from a particular pool of uni grads, and everyone was communicating via the same par…

I don't see what's hard about the typical "unfortunately, we cannot hire everyone who expresses interest in this position..." boilerplate?

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#66

Post by rconti »

davidw wrote: post #27
shadow-banned wrote: post #6

Experienced this at a local tech company that will remain nameless. They're in the logistics space. They enable fast shipping for merchants. Did 10+ hours of a challenge project - something I would have charged $5,000+ for, including a channel-specific attribution model (with defense of my choice), a complete onboarding campaign flow with timing, and sample email creative, lead scoring model, and a bunch of pedantic…

> Did 10+ hours of a challenge project Those things are a hard "no" for me. 10 hours of interviews... I might not like it, but at least it's symmetric. People at the company are putting their time in to the process as much as I am. But with a job, kids, hobbies, volunteer work and so on, I just pass on companies that have day+ long 'coding challenges'.

I like your "asymmetric" description. That's a good explanation.

I did one, once. I liked it initially; if my skill set isn't quite up to par, I can spend 10 hours on something they expect to only take me 5, and so I have a better opportunity to impress if I'm really interested.

On the other hand, I tend to get along very well with people, so I "interview well", and I like the on-site thing because it's time-boxed. I either get the job, or I fail, but at least it's over, and doesn't drag on indefinitely.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#67

Post by rconti »

mdturnerphys wrote: post #43

A couple years ago I took a full day off work to interview with a midsized startup that had been after me for months. Halfway through the interviews it started to become clear that they'd expect me to work 60-hour weeks, with regular weekend travel, for less pay than I was making at my 9-5. In the final interview with one of the founders I told him I wasn't willing to do that, so I wasn't surprised when the head of H…

So you expect the person setting the policy to feel free to break it at will? That would be a terrible example, even if the head of HR set it unilaterally, which, as someone else mentioned, is unlikely.

Furthermore, if it WAS unilateral, wouldn't that mean that the head of HR who set the policy was the biggest believer in said policy?

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#68

Post by rconti »

hailwren wrote: post #30

> Many job seekers take the not-recommended approach of submitting their résumés for dozens of jobs I wish I only had to apply for dozens of jobs.

What's your field and geo area? I don't think I've ever applied for more than 6 jobs in a round of looking. And more often than not I haven't even had to look. ~20 years, bay area.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#69

Post by rs23296008n1 »

shadow-banned wrote: post #6

Experienced this at a local tech company that will remain nameless. They're in the logistics space. They enable fast shipping for merchants. Did 10+ hours of a challenge project - something I would have charged $5,000+ for, including a channel-specific attribution model (with defense of my choice), a complete onboarding campaign flow with timing, and sample email creative, lead scoring model, and a bunch of pedantic…

10 hours?! That's a test of whether you'll work unpaid overtime and what kind of nonsense you'll tolerate. They have too many candidates and will probably treat you like garbage even if you could get the role. Which you likely won't.

I'd be well out the door before 2 hours. I've been in an office waiting for an interview and walked out after waiting 20 minutes. They rang me and angrily asked where I'd gone. I said I was on time and they had missed the interview start without a valid explanation. I questioned their punctuality and asked whether they were even serious about the position.

They were out of business around a year later. I guess they were too late for other people as well.

Interviews are two way. A lot of recruiters forget that.

Always be ready to walk away.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#70

Post by antisthenes »

deedubaya wrote: post #18

I think most job seekers would simply appreciate a "no thank you" response and not get ghosted. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more common to just go silent on candidates. What a cowardly thing to do.

It's a good indicator. You really don't want to work for and with cowards. The communication at work will make you feel like you're pulling teeth every time you need to get access to a resource or to get feedback on your work.

If they can't even do an interview right, imagine how toxic it must be working for them.

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