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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

#231

Post by xwowsersx »

NaCl_af wrote: post #219
Koshkin wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> rejected from hundreds of jobs Sounds extreme. Were you applying to random jobs?

This year alone I’ve applied to over 800 C# or .Net related positions and have yet to get any offer. It’s incredibly difficult for some of us unfortunately. Precisely 886 if anyone was interested

I do wonder if you're spreading yourself too thin and not focusing on nailing one or two jobs you're really interested in by applying to so many places. I get that it's a numbers game so I truly understand and salute the effort, but I wonder if being rejected from hundreds of jobs is pointing out that something needs to be adjusted. I recently spent a few months finding a job and landed one I'm really happy with. I'm happy to provide feedback and advice if you're interested. Contact details in my profile.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#233

Post by watwut »

throwaway1928 wrote: post #227

I was rejected by a pretty well-known DB startup over a fizzbuzz-level coding assignment. I didn't blow it off because of its triviality--quite the opposite, I gold-plated it with spec comments, code comments, computational complexity comments, unit tests, type annotations, etc. I showed it to some friends at FAANG companies and they couldn't understand why it was rejected either. It was just really weird and unsettl…

Possibly they did not considered you fit. If they want to hack around (which plenty of teams want), someone who polishes things looks like odd one and is just annoyance to them.

Startups are unpredictable in their expectations. What you consider good code they consider bad code. I have seen startup where long variable names were wrong. So "nameFilter" would be wrong and "flt" would be correct. Seeing one as stupid overengineering and the other as smart.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#234

Post by mtnGoat »

schrijver wrote: post #228

> It wasn’t always like this. In the past, it was standard protocol to provide feedback and constructive criticism to candidates. The hiring manager or human resources professional would diplomatically let the applicants know what they did well and the areas in which they need to improve upon. As far as I can tell, this is still the case in Belgium and the Netherlands for everyone who makes it to the interview stage.…

yes its very much the normal. Some companies will even ask you to write an entire app, send it in and never reply whatsoever, even when prompted(Uber did this to me). I have heard some other pretty disheartening stories... hiring in tech is kinda wack.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#235

Post by mewpmewp2 »

gwbas1c wrote: post #83

As a candidate, I've always preferred polite "thanks, but no thanks" responses in a timely manner. The other kind of feedback that I like is things like, "we need people with a different background / experience than you have." IMO, judgement feedback (you screwed up how you handle your yak shaving, or I don't think we'll get along with each other) is too subjective to be constructive. And, I get it. As someone who's…

I would rather get subjective feedback than none at all. But I understand that some people can not take criticism or feedback so everyone has to lose out on it.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#236

Post by watwut »

freshbagels wrote: post #96
ggambetta wrote: post #5

They are especially scared to give negative feedback to candidates out of fear that it might be misinterpreted as discrimination. And this is why we can't have nice things.

That bit made no sense to me. I think the opposite is true; when given no concrete feedback, one begins to hypothesize why they were rejected, and their mind will often point them to discrimination as the reason. If one is given clear, concrete feedback ("We rejected you because you didn't come up with a simpler algorithm, and you lack experience with framework x"), there is little room for them to think they were di…

From the point of view of a company that employ many people who do hiring, someone is guaranteed to write something stupid. When people write code, they do bugs. When they write feedback, they do stupid.

Or even more likely, someone will inadvertly show his bias that could have stayed under cover. People are not that great in hiding their biases over many interactions.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#237

Post by mewpmewp2 »

adamredwoods wrote: post #122
CapmCrackaWaka wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that most of the time candidates just want to hear something that puts the situation out of their control, and therefore wasn't merit based. It's always easier to hear "I'm breaking up with you because I'm moving for a new job and want to concentrate on my career" than "I'm breaking up with you because you're awkward around my friends and aren't interesting".

Rejection is incredibly difficult to deal with. I suspect some people will say they are immune to it, but (anecdotal example) I've been rejected from hundreds of jobs over the past 3 years and every one hurts a little. I felt it never got easier to deal with rejection, but it got easier to interview and move on. Perhaps it's not the rejection, but the energy in creating the next steps I need to take (more resumes, ta…

Isn't rejection good in the long run? For me it gives clarity especially if there is feedback and it motivated me to try harder and care less.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#238

Post by mewpmewp2 »

gwbas1c wrote: post #147
michaelborromeo wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really want to go through life thinking you’re competent at something? Honest feedback hurts but it’s how you grow. And if people cared at all about interviewees they’d give some semblance of honest feedback rather than “no thanks.”

> And if people cared at all about interviewees they’d give some semblance of honest feedback rather than “no thanks.” A former Apple architect once gave me "honest feedback" about the languages I work with. It was his opinion about industry direction, that 8 years later, was 100% wrong. (Although I don't think I was a good match for his startup.) That's why I consider honest feedback flame bait.

You take the advice with grain of salt. Still better than receiving no feedback. I don't think it is productive to think of it as flame bait.

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#239

Post by WWLink »

leetrout wrote: post #209
fiblye wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had something similar. I was given an extensive exam to take before the interview, and it consisted of weird things like 200 arithmetic problems in 15 minutes, picking the best synonym for 100 words in 5 minutes, etc. Things not humanly possible without immense preparation for that precise test. The interviewer comes in and starts berating me for not finishing and how I must’ve gone to a bad school, must not be sma…

I interviewed at twitter for a job working with their infra team. They had an Atlanta data center and they were interviewing me for that role to be remote out of Atlanta. I had to fly to SF to interview via video calls with the team in Atlanta because the manager was in SF. He told me he would prefer someone local in SF over lunch so I knew I was just filler. After lunch interview was with a xoogler and everyone earl…

hahahahahahahah :D

I don't think it's possible to have a finite number of primes though? But it's a programming interview, so really, who gives a shit?!

Re: Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Given Feedback

#240

Post by mewpmewp2 »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #180
danaris wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get a piece of feedback from one person, you know what you would need to do differently to get hired by that person. If you get similar pieces of feedback from 3 people, you now likely know what you need to do differently to get hired, period. It’s not about getting specific, individual pieces of feedback. It’s about being able to triangulate toward what you need to do differently. And maybe you get 3 pieces o…

That assumes there is no systematic bias. Which clearly there is.

And receiving that feedback helps you realize if there is any bias and adapt accordingly.
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