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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?

#171

Post by rwmj »

huhtenberg wrote: post #97

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…

I had a weird interview with a gambling company. The CEO looked like a bookie and gave off some very strange vibes. During the interview he told me how if I took the job I'd never be able to visit the US again (because the company had US customers, illegally). I didn't take the job, but later on one of their management team was on a flight to visit their server farm somewhere in the Caribbean. The flight got diverted to a US airport and the manager was arrested and spent some time in prison, so the CEO wasn't joking!

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

#172

Post by yieldcrv »

nameless912 wrote: post #49
outsidetheparty wrote: post #19

I should have spotted it but didn't: They took me out skiing one day between interviews (they were courting me pretty hard, and good snow was a selling point for the region) and I met the CEO for the first time on the slopes. He wore a full motorcycle-style helmet with a mirrored face visor which he refused to open; it was like talking to a member of Daft Punk. It had fake hologram bullet-holes on it. More importantl…

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.

why aren't their positive traits that you see 99% of the time “who they really are”

just a question about the phrase, not this particular person

how does this give any predictive insight aside from you thinking they're hiding the rest of the time

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

#173

Post by yieldcrv »

aprdm wrote: post #9
romanhn wrote: post #8

Years ago I was interviewing for a software engineering role. At the end of one of the interviews I asked how they liked working there. And the interviewer caught me off-guard with "it kind of sucks". She went on to explain that the company recently promoted a bunch of youngsters into VP roles through a combination of nepotism and early start dates, and they didn't know what they were doing. I thanked her and politel…

Nvidia, like many other tech companies, has many people/teams/departments/division. Is very hard to get a clear view of the world from a single point. Who knows, maybe if you joined you would have hated it too, or loved it ! The story you shared is likely shared by many other companies that went through hyper-growth TLDR: Stuff is hard!

Thats really funny because nobody says this when the interviewer is giving red flags that arent blunt like that

Even in other posts here, people are like “whew I wouldnt want to work for a company where an unrelated recruiter and hiring manager did something nonstandard” as if it was a predictor of their team

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

#174

Post by yieldcrv »

shaftway wrote: post #110

I went through the full deal with an algorithmic trading firm. I blazed through the interviews and given the history I have in finance was able to finish a large on-site assignment with an hour to spare. I was told that I was the first to ever finish it. Second to last step was submitting an official college transcript as part of their background check process. Last step was talking to the CEO. Now, I flunked out of…

I don't understand why the way you cared manifested in that way

My dad was overly sensitive about not having a degree too, I wonder if its a generational thing

From what I can tell, this nonstandard question would have no bearing on the work experience and never come up again, but you are acting like it would

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

#175

Post by yieldcrv »

jakedata wrote: post #88
Jugurtha wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ever contemplate a career change, even if never, please consider writing.

Thanks! I consider writing well to be a differentiating skill, especially in IT.

Too late I already trained the model on your writing style

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

#176

Post by solarkraft »

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_…

Knowing this stuff makes me feel weird about people who still ended up working there. Idealism? Very good pay?

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

#177

Post by pcthrowaway »

hcks wrote: post #163
dekhn wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked this exact question ("what is the net benefit of currency arbitrage") and nobody has been able to articulate is. Stock markets, I can see- they existed and exist to share risk and profit. But shorting and arbitrage, it's much harder for me to understand those. (and yes, that VP was a sociopath)

1/ both shorting and arbitrage can and will happen as soon as you let people more or less freely buy and sell things 2/ people do it for their own (expected) personal profit 3/ at the market level, these transactions contribute to price discovery You could imagine banning currency arbitrage, but then you’d have to at the same time enforce somehow consistent prices on all markets (I.e. literally do the same thing as a…

In theory you're making the markets more efficient.

Someone outside of finance exchanging one forex for another could get a more fair rate if their exchange is more efficient due to increased liquidity.

But by the same token, the other side of that trade is getting a less favourable (but still more "fair") rate

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

#178

Post by pcthrowaway »

rwmj wrote: post #171
huhtenberg wrote: post #97

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…

I had a weird interview with a gambling company. The CEO looked like a bookie and gave off some very strange vibes. During the interview he told me how if I took the job I'd never be able to visit the US again (because the company had US customers, illegally). I didn't take the job, but later on one of their management team was on a flight to visit their server farm somewhere in the Caribbean. The flight got diverted…

That's... surprisingly honest.

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

#179

Post by harinderspreet »

One of the biggest red flags I've encountered during a hiring process was a complete lack of interest in my thoughts, ideas, or experiences. During the interview, it felt like they were just going through the motions, asking generic questions without really listening to my answers. There was no engagement or curiosity about what I could bring to the team.

When I asked about the company culture and the team I'd be working with, the answers were vague and dismissive. It gave me the impression that they were more interested in filling a seat than finding the right fit.

That experience taught me the importance of mutual respect and genuine interest in a hiring process. If a company doesn't take the time to get to know you during the interview, it's a strong indication of how they'll treat you as an employee.

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

#180

Post by pcthrowaway »

eps wrote: post #107
mikewarot wrote: post #4

"You're not allowed to work on your own projects when you're not at work" The biggest red flag ever

Electronic Arts! Was told exactly the same, verbatim, followed by "besides you won't have time to work on them anyways".

Apple has this policy too
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