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Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

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Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#61

Post by AtNightWeCode »

Patronizing interviewers. Have not met any myself but worked with that kind of people. People that start off an interview with a 30 min lesson why the interviewer is better than the candidate.

The worst hiring though is when you are asked to take a code test and you can clearly see from the extent of the test that they want a POC for something. I was given a code test that was basically a complete MS paint. I did not do it and then the company complained about it. I did not even apply for the job in the first place. Some big companies…

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#62

Post by lhorie »

c2h5oh wrote: post #31

Mostly by fucking about the pay: - By refusing to disclose salary range and insisting I should go through the process before they can tell me. They don't get an interview. - By trying paint their company as a startup despite over a billion dollars in investor money or, in one case, being publicly traded. Used to justify below market rate salary. - By claiming role is fully remote and then slashing salary range at the…

I'm curious, do you mean you're applying to companies where the interviewers actually have a say in salary negotiations? AFAIK, interviewers almost never a say on compensation, except in very small companies where your interviewer is a co-founded or partner.

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#63

Post by cglan »

m0ck wrote: post #52
cglan wrote: post #46

They've been rude in a variety of ways. The big one though is simply ghosting me after 5+ rounds with no explanation. This has happened a variety of times and reaching out usually gets a non response. It's infuriating. The others are just not being professional. Wearing pajamas or not paying attention or acting incredibly disinterested. It's really terrible.

>This has happened a variety of times and reaching out usually gets a non response Name & shame

Salesforce - Mulesoft subsidiary.

Microsoft but they eventually got back to me 2 months later. Still disrespectful in my opinion

Hashicorp

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#64

Post by simonbarker87 »

Oras wrote: post #45

Two years ago, I applied via a recruiter, and made my position clear about my salary expectations. It was a 30 minutes video call, followed by a test to design a system, which took me around 8 hours to finish (I used sequence diagrams and detailed documentation). After that it was a meet and greet interview for 45 minutes and I asked for another 30 minutes to ask questions and understand the expectations. I received…

I had this last year, came in about the same amount lower. I said no, expressed my annoyance that the recruiter had wasted my time. They came back at 15% less, I said no again. They then said “ok you’re too expensive” I replied with “no problem, I understand you have a budget limitation, I hope you find what you’re looking for soon”.

2 weeks later they come back 20% over what I asked for, had accepted another role by then and said “no, next time, just offer what’s asked”

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#65

Post by bad_interivewee »

have had a few of these experiences

one interviewer was watching their laptop and typing (slack?) and made almost no eye contact the entire time. it started with dead silence for a bit, then "what questions do you have for me". and that question was repeated 2 or 3 times after I finished with my reply, then it was just over.

another time, after the first 10 or so minutes of talking on the phone, the interviewer said "well I don't know if this department will open up, but you should try applying at company x or company y" and that was it. this was for a new department in the company - I assume they would not be interviewing if it was a long shot, and I was referred by an employee. pure waste of time.

a couple other similar stories I am forgetting at the moment, then the usual ghosting/late arrivals/condescension about education and work history.

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#66

Post by wrnr »

Interviewer asked me if I wanted something to drink, and I was like: water is all good with me. He brings me a glass and I take a sip. The tast was absolutely foul, acidic with a taste I just couldn't place. In the most civilised way possible I spit the water back into the glass. Sorry I say, there must have been some mistake here, maybe some detergent left after cleaning. The interviewer looks horrified at me and acts all offended, rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath: It is just cucumber and rose pedal leaves, it's not like I would want to poison you. The interview continues with this foul stank in my mouth and I my head racing with who/what/why cucumbers? On the way out I pass by the kitchen and see this giant jar of water, something right out of a chemistry lab of a mad scientist, with cucumbers and rose pedals flouting in it.

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#67

Post by amatecha »

itronitron wrote: post #50

Unfortunately, in a job interview it is very likely that the person being rude is doing that in order to test how you respond. I've witnessed it during a group interview and I lost all respect for the interviewer, who was a group manager, especially after they explained in the review meeting why they did it. Personally I think it is a lame tactic and that there are better ways to learn how a person adapts to a confus…

Yeah seriously, interviews are stressful enough. Even managing one with calm and composure is already a major "plus" for any candidate IMO.

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#68

Post by jareklupinski »

a long time ago, I interviewed for a technical but still customer-facing position (think forward-sales engineer)

for two hours the two interviewers basically took turns, one asking me specific things about my resume, while the other would make a show of how disinterested or bored they were. it was a bit comical to watch a 60-year old director enthusiastically check email, so I kind of picked up on this being one of those 'behavior tests'

after being hired and witnessing the same behavior from our actual clients whenever we hemmed or hawed about anything on our company's sales sheet, I asked one of the interviewers (who had become my director) and they said basically the idea was to filter out the people who would have soon become angry at their own customers

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#69

Post by geogra4 »

About a month or so ago I had a very rude interview with the person who would have been my manager at a very large and well known FinTech company.

I had already passed the phone screen, the 2/3rd rounds, and did well enough on the on-site to warrant a final interview to see if I was to make the cut - I was told it would be focused on the technical presentation I prepared as part of the on-site.

The interview started off ok, just confirming the company I worked for and the industry I'm in. I had trusted the other interviewers at that company to be honest and ask questions in good faith and they all were for the most part. However, this specific interviewer used some leading questions in order to prove a point about how FinTech is far superior in complexity to the industry I worked in and I wouldn't be able to hang. We didn't talk much about my presentation.

Very rude for a guy who had only been there 4 months and didn't come from fintech himself. I'm bitter about it but ultimately I wouldn't have wanted to work for him anyway.

Re: Ask HN: How are your interviewers being rude to you?

#70

Post by codegeek »

monkeybutton wrote: post #14

I've had candidates do their phone interviews by walking out of the office they're working at currently. It was awesome trying to understand their answers as a motorcycle rips past on the street. I think its just a lack of respect and self effort awareness on all sides. Just think about what you are going to be doing ahead of time is all it takes.

It is tough for people who have to take 30 mins out of their day job for an interview. I get that and respect that. However, I look for an explanation right at the beginning which shows that they have humility and understand that this it not ideal but this is the best they can do considering they are at work. However, if they expect me to "get it" without them even mentioning at beginning, I take that as a sign of "I am so good so I couldn't care less about telling you why I cannot do the interview in an ideal setting".
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