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

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

#91

Post by paulddraper »

seattle_spring wrote: post #78
paulddraper wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The team, the environment, the flexible hours, the pay.

Even for fast-food service jobs, there is always some differentiator.

People who can't answer this question are more likely to turn over. That's why it is asked.

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

#92

Post by OnionBlender »

klyrs wrote: post #43

Canonical. Their desktop experience had already lost its shine (and, effing snaps), but I made the mistake of believing that they might be cool anyway, without doing my research. Intelligence test? Story about high school? Reflex test? The actual red flag for me was their final admission that they require an unpaid internship in the form of "community participation." https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/tkc348/my_…

I had the same experience and lost respect for Canonical. Kind of makes me want to avoid using Ubuntu as well.

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

#93

Post by jacknews »

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #64
nameless912 wrote: post #21

I once was interviewing for an internship at a quant firm in Chicago (I was in my Sophomore year I think at UIUC) and my interview went pretty well up to the point of my second-last interview of the day. Then, I sat down with the VP of engineering, and he opened the interview with "so, what do you think it is we do here?" And I naturally stuttered through a canned answer about how they use arbitrage opportunities in…

Should have been honest and said "You contribute nothing to society"

I'm sure they already know that, indeed that they actually contribute negatively, which is why you need to be able to 'stomach the job'.

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

#94

Post by joegahona »

jakedata wrote: post #17

I was summoned to a nondescript industrial building, found my way upstairs and wound up in a grubby room posing as a lobby. I was seated on a low futon and had several discussions with my knees nearly level with my ears. The conversations were overly casual but with some oddly specific IT security questions. I seriously contemplated walking out of what was clearly an amateurish, shoestring operation. Nope... I have w…

Is the futon still there? If not, work it into the story somehow, near the end.

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

#95

Post by Turskarama »

jerkstate wrote: post #61
allo37 wrote: 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…

That's the benefit they give to their _customer_, which is not the same as a benefit to _society_.

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

#96

Post by abjr »

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #64
nameless912 wrote: post #21

I once was interviewing for an internship at a quant firm in Chicago (I was in my Sophomore year I think at UIUC) and my interview went pretty well up to the point of my second-last interview of the day. Then, I sat down with the VP of engineering, and he opened the interview with "so, what do you think it is we do here?" And I naturally stuttered through a canned answer about how they use arbitrage opportunities in…

Should have been honest and said "You contribute nothing to society"

"You're just taking up space."

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

#97

Post by huhtenberg »

Interviewed with a company that implemented their own healthcare insurance. That is, if you have a medical issue, you tell them what it is, they OK a doctor visit, then you pay for it, bring the receipt and they will reimburse you as per their policies.

Also their compensation comprised a fixed salary and a "guaranteed" bonus of about 20%, which together added up to the market rate. However the bonus wasn't mentioned in the written contract.

It was a high-tech hardware company of several dozen people with their own clean-room manufacturing facilities. Interesting tech, good product, but the CFO felt like a grifter and the CEO looked like a retired gangster, with mannerisms to match, who spent all interview telling how much business prowess he had.

That was really bizarre.

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

#98

Post by rewmie »

I once interviewed for a financial company. They were looking for an experienced developer who could easily onboard onto a project. During the second meeting with the HR representative, he asked me to meet with the guy I was going to work with, and proceeded to give me context on why they were hiring someone. It turns out the guy I was supposed to meet was the sole person working on a project which managers were piling on pressure to get done in spite of being astonishingly understaffed and overworked. Why were they looking to hire another guy? Well that developer rage-quit on the spot, and left the country without noticein protest because of being systematically overworked and underpaid.

It turned out the company actually couldn't afford to lose him, and started addressing his concerns. He reconsidered staying after they gave him a huge raise and promised to hire someone to help him.

If the soviet-parade-in-red-square number of red flags wasn't enough, the recruiter proceeded to say they were looking for someone who loved the job and wasn't seeking to work for money.

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

#99

Post by mihaaly »

seattle_spring wrote: post #75
Tomte wrote: 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."

To me the aptitude tests are red flags. Once had a successfull technical round plus agreement on work conditions and compensation when the last step was completing an aptitude test. Two parts (had a chance for a single practice round). One was finance related calculations (this was a developer job for a CAD application) mixed with logic and pattern completion tests, with less than adequate time to complete - yet both progress and accuracy was judged without specifics how. The second part was 'which one do you find more important' kind of personality test with all important answers of independent matters (all three are important in their own place), all without a context that would require different choices, expecting universal answers, and again, not enough time but rushing through without deliberation or contemplation of the right answer. I was asking how will they use the results and they said something like 'to determine abilities, suitability for advancements and future roles in the company'. All after position related technical interviews succeeded. I chose not to be judged this way now and in the future, in case they take it dead seriously. If not, then opt out because of that, being unnecessary. Since they told it is mandatory and everyone (10k+ employee) have to be judged the very same way and repeatedly throughout the course of employment with bleeding heart (interesting task, same wavelength with technical manager, remote work in 2019, good enogh salary, being without income for 3 months already) I said no (after rounds of emails with HR trying to negotiate this away). I am afraid of an organization with this level of robotic stubbornness about vaguely relevant attempt of measuring a persons whole personality and future at the company in 30 minute automated tests with unveryfiable methodology.
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