10 ms·

I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. It must happen right?

by fogus 16y ago

paulgb 16y ago
If they did so with any semblance of professionalism, the stories wouldn't be very interesting. I once interviewed with a company where it was apparent 10 minutes in that it wasn't work I was interested in (they were a stealth mode startup, so my preparatory research didn't tell me much). I made my interests clear when describing myself, and it was apparent on both sides that there wasn't a good fit. We mutually agreed to cut the interview short. Not a very interesting story, but no bridges were burned and nobody's time was wasted. I'd expect that most such stories are similar.
j_baker 16y ago
You know, based on reading thedailywtf[1] for a while, I've concluded that it happens very infrequently even under the most absurd circumstances. Most of the time, the interviewee says something like "This was bizarre, but I figured I should just stick the interview out". I'm curious why that is. [1] http://thedailywtf.com/Series/Tales_from_the_Interview.aspx http://thedailywtf.com/Series/Tales_from_the_Interview.aspx
- tomjen3 16y ago
  It is properly the same reason people don't walk out of the movie theater when the movie they where going to see was really crappy.
- Tichy 16y ago
  Often you can still learn some things from the interviews. A glimpse into differing company cultures, for examples.
- biotech 16y ago
  "...I figured I should just stick the interview out" I had that experience at an interview. Among other things, the interviewer was late, I was stuck in a tiny office with three people interviewing me, etc, etc. It was quickly apparent to me that they didn't respect their programmers. I decided half way through the interview that I had no interest in the job, and considered politely departing right then, but I stuck it out. I figured it was good interview practice.
- damncabbage 16y ago
  Morbid curiosity. :-)
mootothemax 16y ago
10 years ago, the dot com I was working for went out of business. Even better, I was a PHP developer with all of a couple of years of experience. The dot-com crash was not a good time to be interviewing. The recruitment agent I was using must have been equally desperate. He sent me along to an interview for the position of in-house developer (yup, the only one) with a company based in central London. The interview went well at first, but after the first 15 minutes, I sensed something was amiss. The damned recruitment agent had edited my CV to say that I was a Perl developer with 5 years experience. I explained this to the 5 people interviewing me, and to be honest, they were lovely about it. In fact... a bit too nice about it. They wanted me to inherit their complex Perl-based system, despite me not having a clue about the language. I explained at length why I wouldn't be a good hire, but still they wouldn't end the interview. In desperation I wrote down the phone number of a friend who DID have some Perl knowledge, and practically ran out of the place. It was nice, and I realise that non-techies might not make a distinction, but my they were insistent that I not leave!
- Tichy 16y ago
  Typically developers complain the other way round - that employers don't believe they could be able to pick up any other skill than the ones already on their CV. I still think PHP is basically ASP for Perl - sorry... (Yeah I've heard people claim it is not like Perl at all).
Encosia 16y ago
> I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. In 2002, I was in a tough lurch between my first company's failure and a dire job market here in Atlanta. With -$210.00 in my checking account, it was all I could do to hide my excitement when a local auto insurance company called me in to interview for a senior/lead software development position. I was almost immediately apprehensive when I arrived. The entire office basically amounted to an open call center, it was messy, and there were tangles of 10Base2 coax running haphazardly across the floor between computers. Not a good sign. Though I had made it clear that I was interested in web development, it turned out that the job would mostly entail RPG and VB6 (what a combination). At that point, I was already looking for the door and thinking of polite excuses. When the interviewer handed me a generic two-page application to fill out, as if I were interviewing for a job at McDonald's, I knew it was time to leave. I handed the application form back, thanked him for getting in touch with me, wished him the best of luck finding someone else, and navigated back through their 10Base2 obstacle course as quickly as possible.
zwetan 16y ago
I never did it but once, as I think even the worst interview on earth is something you use to learn. But for the one time when it happened, long long time ago, it went like that: I was sitting at a round table with 4/5 personn in front of me doing the interview, among them the CEO this CEO in the middle of the interview ask me how much salary I would expect I don't really block and answer straight away then the CEO went into a fury on how I would dare to ask that much and that the price of bread could not augment that much I kindly asked if he was comparing me to some slice of bread ? He answered "yes" I stood up, smiled and walked out of the room, not saying a word at all. Stupid small story, but since that time I will always check the range of salary a company expect to pay for a job offer, it also helps to filter out the company having unreasonable expectations (I'm looking at the one who look for tons of languages, 10+ years of experience and want to pay you the salary of an intern).

I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. It must happen right?

by fogus 16y ago

I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. It must happen right?

If they did so with any semblance of professionalism, the stories wouldn't be very interesting. I once interviewed with a company where it was apparent 10 minutes in that it wasn't work I was interested in (they were a stealth mode startup, so my preparatory research didn't tell me much). I made my interests clear when describing myself, and it was apparent on both sides that there wasn't a good fit. We mutually agreed to cut the interview short. Not a very interesting story, but no bridges were burned and nobody's time was wasted. I'd expect that most such stories are similar.

j_baker 16y ago

You know, based on reading thedailywtf[1] for a while, I've concluded that it happens very infrequently even under the most absurd circumstances. Most of the time, the interviewee says something like "This was bizarre, but I figured I should just stick the interview out". I'm curious why that is. [1] http://thedailywtf.com/Series/Tales_from_the_Interview.aspx http://thedailywtf.com/Series/Tales_from_the_Interview.aspx

tomjen3 16y ago
It is properly the same reason people don't walk out of the movie theater when the movie they where going to see was really crappy.
Tichy 16y ago
Often you can still learn some things from the interviews. A glimpse into differing company cultures, for examples.
biotech 16y ago
"...I figured I should just stick the interview out" I had that experience at an interview. Among other things, the interviewer was late, I was stuck in a tiny office with three people interviewing me, etc, etc. It was quickly apparent to me that they didn't respect their programmers. I decided half way through the interview that I had no interest in the job, and considered politely departing right then, but I stuck it out. I figured it was good interview practice.
damncabbage 16y ago
Morbid curiosity. :-)

mootothemax 16y ago

10 years ago, the dot com I was working for went out of business. Even better, I was a PHP developer with all of a couple of years of experience. The dot-com crash was not a good time to be interviewing. The recruitment agent I was using must have been equally desperate. He sent me along to an interview for the position of in-house developer (yup, the only one) with a company based in central London. The interview went well at first, but after the first 15 minutes, I sensed something was amiss. The damned recruitment agent had edited my CV to say that I was a Perl developer with 5 years experience. I explained this to the 5 people interviewing me, and to be honest, they were lovely about it. In fact... a bit too nice about it. They wanted me to inherit their complex Perl-based system, despite me not having a clue about the language. I explained at length why I wouldn't be a good hire, but still they wouldn't end the interview. In desperation I wrote down the phone number of a friend who DID have some Perl knowledge, and practically ran out of the place. It was nice, and I realise that non-techies might not make a distinction, but my they were insistent that I not leave!

Tichy 16y ago
Typically developers complain the other way round - that employers don't believe they could be able to pick up any other skill than the ones already on their CV. I still think PHP is basically ASP for Perl - sorry... (Yeah I've heard people claim it is not like Perl at all).

Encosia 16y ago

> I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. In 2002, I was in a tough lurch between my first company's failure and a dire job market here in Atlanta. With -$210.00 in my checking account, it was all I could do to hide my excitement when a local auto insurance company called me in to interview for a senior/lead software development position. I was almost immediately apprehensive when I arrived. The entire office basically amounted to an open call center, it was messy, and there were tangles of 10Base2 coax running haphazardly across the floor between computers. Not a good sign. Though I had made it clear that I was interested in web development, it turned out that the job would mostly entail RPG and VB6 (what a combination). At that point, I was already looking for the door and thinking of polite excuses. When the interviewer handed me a generic two-page application to fill out, as if I were interviewing for a job at McDonald's, I knew it was time to leave. I handed the application form back, thanked him for getting in touch with me, wished him the best of luck finding someone else, and navigated back through their 10Base2 obstacle course as quickly as possible.

zwetan 16y ago

I never did it but once, as I think even the worst interview on earth is something you use to learn. But for the one time when it happened, long long time ago, it went like that: I was sitting at a round table with 4/5 personn in front of me doing the interview, among them the CEO this CEO in the middle of the interview ask me how much salary I would expect I don't really block and answer straight away then the CEO went into a fury on how I would dare to ask that much and that the price of bread could not augment that much I kindly asked if he was comparing me to some slice of bread ? He answered "yes" I stood up, smiled and walked out of the room, not saying a word at all. Stupid small story, but since that time I will always check the range of salary a company expect to pay for a job offer, it also helps to filter out the company having unreasonable expectations (I'm looking at the one who look for tons of languages, 10+ years of experience and want to pay you the salary of an intern).