If You Want This Job, We Must Interview You Forever

I can quit any job any time I want in the us, perhaps unless I've signed an unusual contract. Never seen that in software but I'm also not a contractor but a full time employee only. So what's the benefit to the employee to be on probation?

It only takes a day for a company to lay you off.

The interview process my major companies are often designed to convince you of prestige and the illusion that they are coveted, but if you really look at how things work in the corporate world, we are individually a product that they buy into as consumers. If they undervalue the product, and the product is something they don't really need for whatever reason, they will try to haggle.

If they need you as a product, and you develop and know your value, you can negotiate better, from a position of strength. Personal growth and confidence is a continual process of building and renovating, but it always has a peak, and even ebb and flows throughout. There is never one clear path to success, but rest comfortably in knowing that all you have to do is survive and grow, carrying only what matters for each role you need to play in life.

Your life isn't linked to a job, it's linked to survival. Never let an employer convince you that you are not worthy of a job, and never let a job be the only value you have...

Work to qualify for interviews at companies where you get interviewed by execs, not by middle and lower management. The friends you make in those roles carry weight. A big part of success is the "Grey Hair" rule. Accept that when you are young and less experienced, things will be harder. It gets easier to navigate as you grow grey hairs and more experience if you work efficiently and effectively (not furiously). Resume formatting and a cover letter aren't really what get you the job. Your experience, personal product, and presentation does... Don't overthink the process... Overthink your personal life goals (What you want to accomplish in your personal life, not in work for an employer).

I am not usually a positive person, I am a practical one. The world is a lot less intimidating and more easily understandable when you focus on what you can control... Work to live, don't live to work.

Well, certainly not in an interview. If I showed up and the interviewers sprung some sort of role play scenario or cheesy improv on me I'd be politely thanking them as I quickly shut the door on my way out.

Actually it reminds me of an experience I haven't thought about in years, though not quite the same thing: Fresh out of college I was in a job I hated and desperate to find anything else. I found something advertised as, I think, a marketing job and got called in for an interview. When I arrived there were a dozen other people in the parking lot and the recruiters were ushering us all into a large passenger van where they said we'd split up along the way to some big box stores an hour or two away and be doing some type of soliciting. Donations? Selling crap? I don't know. I'd signed up for an interview, not whatever the hell this was supposed to be. I noped out of that real fast, just turned around and walked away.

Wow, I don't think I've remembered that for 20 years. Anyway yeah, there are definitely some interview practices that should send a up visions of a truck full of red flags crashing into a truck full of "Warning!" signs as they explode outwards from the collision. And then you only walk towards the flaming wreck if you're a dozen kinds of desperate and the drivers crawling out of the debris are waiving paychecks.

My best guess is they were looking for me to admit some negative emotion that I had when receiving criticism— but without being asked to describe negative feelings directly. In one example, I genuinely considered the criticism of a project helpful and unrelated to me as a person. In another I was far more concerned with my report’s experience than my own, so I didn’t bother mentioning it.

Just like success with the other gender (or whatever you're attracted to), this doesn't mean much about your self worth.

As a hiring manager, I'm desperate for good talent. For the company that liked you, ask if there's other roles in the organization or to be considered for future rounds. Can't hurt, but don't hold your breath. Laws often prevent honesty in rejections.

It's extremely difficult to find good people. Even the most prestigious companies with the most stringent hiring processes are filled with people who shouldn't have been hired. Half the time I hire someone, my workload increases rather than decreases.

I finally find a promising candidate, only to have FAANG come in and offer 50% more than I can. Significantly more than I earn. I try to compete by offering a better work environment, team, and growth. But 50% is life changing. And while I've helped so many grow, they leave holes when they do.

So I find myself questioning my life and worth.