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Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

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71–80 of 278 posts

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#71

They said they liked to start their engineers on the assembly line for a few months so they "know what's going on". Um, no, not for me. Found out later that "no" was definitely the right call. What they really liked was having engineers working on their assembly line.

I'd do it if they were gonna pay me the engineer salary while on the assembly line.

I doubt this was the case, though.

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#72
Nothing crazy but I interviewed at a startup a few years ago — I use the term startup loosely as the company was around for 10 years already but still calling themselves a startup (eye roll). Anyway the VP said every morning the entire company attends stand up. Mind you that was almost 50 people in the meeting discussing their updates. Yup I bolted. They tried to follow up with me after for additional interviews but I ignored it and moved on with my life.

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My last CEO (healthcare startup) told me during my interview with them "but you don't look autistic!" and that should have been the end of the conversation there. When people show you who they are, believe them and all that.

....what was the lead up to that statement? "I'm autistic" "Oh, you don't seem autistic"

"Hi autistic, I'm dad. "

I've had that answer before... That was a fun but volatile place to work for a summer internship.

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#74
The glassdoor salaries were the red flag I ignored at least twice. They were about half of what I was asking. In both cases I gave my asking price, and they said something like 'well, it's not out of the question'.

Did all the coding tests and such for both, both claim I 'aced' them. One made me an offer about half of what I was asking, in line with the Glassdoor salaries. The other didn't provide an offer after basically trying to ask how little I'd take.

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#75
post #23

"You need to send us a handwritten page that we'll send to a graphologer in Switzerland. Nobody is hired without a graphological report." I did that, got hired, and wouldn't comply again. First job after university. Nothing bad happened. Years later I could read the report, and it was nothing remarkable.

I had never heard of a"graphological report" so I looked it up. It's so much worse than I would have guessed! Any of those personality tests are such a major red flag.

"Graphology is the analysis of handwriting with attempt to determine someone's personality traits."

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#77
Interviewed with a defense contractor. I had three “ins” at the company and was basically interviewing to check them out because I was about 90% sure I’d get an offer.

I was about to burn out at my current job at the time. Too much stress, too many hours, too much crazy. At this interview, every one I talked to talked about how “exciting” and “cutting edge” everything they were doing was. “We barely finish a prototype before they’ve changed the design and we have to start over without testing the last one.” “It’s very fast paced, stuff is changing all the time.” “We work over some. Last week, I put in 72 hours, but that’s not typical.” “A dozen companies have tried to solve this problem, but we think we’ve finally figured it out.” And so on. And it was a weapon technology, which I had ethical qualms about.

I called them back and withdrew my application. The HR guy said he was preparing my offer. I told him I didn’t want to see it. My biggest fear was that it would be enough money to tempt me to take the job and I would have been miserable.

Six months later, half of everyone there was laid off. They never got the big problem solved. They lost several contracts. Dodged that bullet (pun intended).

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#78

I was once asked “why do you want to work here?” while interviewing at a Hardee’s as a teenager.

Standard question. If that's a red flag, the whole world is red.

Is there any way to "correctly" answer that question that isn't just made up bullshit, especially for a fast food restaurant?

I think it's hilarious being asked this question when I'm in early discussions with a company that reached out to me.

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#79
post #47
post #12

Once, I had an interview where the hiring manager seemed uninterested in my questions about team dynamics and growth opportunities. It made me wonder if they valued open communication. I believe interviews are a two-way street, and if a company isn't willing to engage in meaningful dialogue, it might signal potential issues down the road. For those interested, we have open positions! https://www.ratherlabs.com/open-p…

Why are you linking job postings, for your current employer/company(?), in this thread? Seems like a very strange thing to do.

Many jobseekers will be in this thread, looking for tips. Seems like a smart place to pick up candidates.

Re: Ask HN: What's the biggest red flag you've encountered during a hiring process?

#80
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what the answer was. I've read plenty about how the boutique finance sector is basically a parasite that only benefits a small cohort of already wealthy individuals, would like to hear what the other side has to say.

The answer I get from people working at market makers I’ve talked to is that they provide liquidity (so you can buy or sell a security immediately rather than waiting minutes or hours?) and decrease volatility. An example is onions futures; see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act and check the onions price history: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WPU01130216/ compared to a commodity where futures tra…

Likewise, this is the answer I generally hear from those folks. IME it's still begging the question - the increased liquidity is still overwhelmingly only meaningful to those already-ultra-rich, unless you subscribe to trickle-down Economics.
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