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Ask HN: Would you accept a distant interview with no travel reimbursement?

• PaulHoule 8y ago
  No
• chrisbennet 8y ago
  No reimbursement, no deal. In general, I avoid situations where the other party has nothing to lose when/if they waste your time. Example: Online tests before you even talk to a manager.
• randombit 8y ago
  I've been flown to interviews at least a half dozen times over the years, mix of startups and big companies, every time travel (flight+hotel+meals) was covered as a matter of course. I would absolutely turn down an interview where they weren't paying for travel, it suggests they are not serious about the process.
• drakonka 8y ago
  No; maybe if I was a junior who was really desperate and could afford the expense, but not at this stage.
• pizza 8y ago
  If they want to pay you a decent salary, travel reimbursement is within the single digits percentage range of that. If they are not willing to pay <10%, what shows you they are willing to pay 100% of a decent salary? edit: additionally, by displaying that you are willing to foot the bill for travel, you are showing that you are desperate, which is something they can further leverage in your negotiations IF they ever even consider you.
  • sqs 8y ago
    This is exactly right. You don’t want to signal that you consider this even remotely acceptable (unless you have no other options—in which case I’d suggest maybe you’re underselling yourself). Source: hired dozens of engineers, interviewed hundreds of engineers
    • 8bitsrule 8y ago
      As Marx put it, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member."
      • pizza 8y ago
        Seems there's a lot of animosity directed towards Groucho on HN..!
  • mcv 8y ago
    Also, if they're unwilling to pay for travel, it could be because they have a lot of candidates and paying for all of them would be too much, especially considering they'll probably hire only a few of them. And that raises the question whether you want to shell out that kind of money for only a small chance to get hired. I would ask for more long distance interviews until they're certain enough they want you, that they're willing to pay for travel.
• ohithereyou 8y ago
  No. If a company does not think you are worth paying for travel then they do not think you are worth it at all.
• ng12 8y ago
  > I've spoken to a couple recruiters today who say it's uncommon for companies to reimburse applicants for travel I've literally never paid out of pocket to travel more than an hour for an interview.
• givehimagun 8y ago
  Those recruiters are incorrect - if a company doesn't want to pay for travel, they will/should do a hirevue/skype interview remotely instead. If they want you to be there in person, they'll pay for you to be there.
• chrisseaton 8y ago
  > I've spoken to a couple recruiters today who say it's uncommon for companies to reimburse applicants for travel I mean, that’s just a lie. Even before you consider whether they do it or not, everyone else in this industry does so they’re just lying. If they company won’t do something as simple as cover your travel costs, and the recruiters are lying to your face, then unless you have no other option I would block these people and forget they exist.
  • tzakrajs 8y ago
    He is right that it is rare that companies will reimburse because typically there is no reimbursing to do; that is, they book all of the accommodations similar to how they would for employee travel and relocation assistance.
• charlesdm 8y ago
  Nope.
• CodeWriter23 8y ago
  Remember recruiters work for the employer. That said, do you live in a place where you are likely to find a job? I ask because there is possibly some nuance here. In general I would interpret this signal as others here are saying and agree with their reasoning. Well not 100% as I would think it would be a stupid company that spends excessively traveling candidates they haven’t interviewed via video conference first. But say I chose to live in the sticks several states away, I would not then expect every employer to cover travel for my interviews.
• marssaxman 8y ago
  I wouldn't accept a distant interview I had to pay for at all, much less one I wouldn't be reimbursed for. That's the interviewing company's responsibility, open and shut.
• skylark 8y ago
  I've never had to pay for transportation to an interview - even rideshare/cabs are typically paid for. I would outright reject any company that tried to make me pay for my own airfare and lodging for an onsite interview.
• AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  Here in town, I'll drive, and I won't charge for the gas. Ditto for the next town over (40 miles). Plane travel? On my dime? For something where they can decide on a whim not to hire me? Absolutely not. Forget that noise. Ditto the hotel, and meals while I'm there. I've flown out for job interviews a few times. I have never paid. If I had to, well, no thank you. I'll look for a different job.
• CM30 8y ago
  Not unless I had plans to go to that area that week and somehow felt like doing an interview in the middle of my holiday (not likely). Of course, given I'm in a major capital city where all the jobs in this country are located (London), the only interview that would require traveling to a distant location would either be one in a foreign country that required a visa or be a bad choice to take up anyway. So yeah, unlikely it'd come up.
• toast0 8y ago
  I don't expect reimbursement, I expect the company to buy the tickets and pay for the hotel room upfront. Ground transportation and meals are negotiable, I suppose.
  • mcv 8y ago
    I'd be fine paying for the small stuff, but if they're unwilling to pay for a significant chunk of the costs, that means they're taking no risk at all on this interview, while you're carrying all the risk. You're fully committed, they have no commitment at all. They can afford to invite you on a whim and then not hire you, and it costs them only the time of the interview, while you're paying the full cost as well as a full day or more of your time. A more equal division of those costs would be more reasonable.
• zerohp 8y ago
  I paid for my own travel for an interview once. I wasn't happy about it but I thought it would be a good excuse to visit a new city for the weekend. I'll never do that again. The cheapskates that wouldn't pay for travel offered me a job but the salary was so low it wasn't even worth negotiating.
• namank 8y ago
  Also, find better recruiters.
• gorpomon 8y ago
  Even fresh out of college with very little to offer (in a different industry than tech) I was not asked to do this. It sounds like you're dealing with some shady recruiters, and that's a shame because there are some good ones out there. I only got my start in tech because a recruiter advocated for me to get an entry level gig. That gig was several states away and a series of online interviews plus several code examples sufficed.
• gnulinux 8y ago
  Self respect. Why spend hundreds of dollars for a company you shouldn't wanna work in?
• thatoneuser 8y ago
  Those recruiters are actually telling you “this is a company you don’t want to work for”. I had this happen once after grad school. Guy wanted me to drive 10 hours one way, pay for a hotel (“isn’t there someone you can stay with?” There wasn’t), and drive back all in my dime. It’s not normal, it’s not reasonable, and you should just end the conversation right there. It will only get worse. Let’s go down this hypothetical route where you accept to do something so ridiculous. You drive a ways or fly in, you get the hotel and you go back, all in your own dime. You’ve effectively just invested hundreds of dollars into this interview. They might already be planning to fill the position with an internal candidate, who knows? Maybe they’re just feeling it out. Or maybe they want you, and maybe they know they have a garbage offer. Well now that you’re emotionally committed to this on some level because of the money you spent, you’re more likely to commit more than you otherwise would have. In poker I think they call it “pot committed” when you have a weak hand but you’ve already put so much into the pot that you feel compelled to “win back” what you’ve already lost, so you bet more. Same principle. This is really, reallt shitty psychological manipulation. I don’t think I need to say more. If that isn’t enough to convince you then I’m afraid you might need some coaching for how to stand up for yourself ;)
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• K2h 8y ago
  Over 10 years ago I had a similar offer - I was one state away (~500 miles) and the company did not want to pay for travel. They were interested, and I was interested, and I had other travel taking me to the region, so about a month later I showed up and we did the interview. Several months later I was given an offer and accepted - but I had exactly your reaction, "if you (employer) can't pony up $120 for a plane ticket....". in the end it worked for me, but I still take that as a major red flag, if the employer will not pay for travel to interview, then they have not properly vetted and phone screened you to determine they want to take any time to seriously consider you. When I conduct interviews as an employer today - I do assessment on location because fit ends up being very important. Where a person is coming from, what social networks they have, interest in the climate and region play huge in long term retention and it is often much easier to take the time to hire locally if possible to increase quality of fit in the organization. in many cases this is not possible - and you have to import as you don't have excess talent (at your price point) in the region.
  • aerovistae 8y ago
    > interest in the climate and region play huge in long term retention You're a smart guy. In my experience very few people consider this.
• beatgammit 8y ago
  I'm happy to pay if I have an offer in hand and it's up to me to decide whether to finalize the paperwork (e.g. onboarding interview), but not for something that isn't guaranteed. If they aren't satisfied with a video or phone interview, they had better pay to have me come out.
• contingencies 8y ago
  I had a company try to hire me internationally. This was on the strength of a close friend's internal reference and persistence over months. I wasn't looking. After some phone calls with their senior management I finally agreed to travel to an interview and they agree verbally to pay travel expenses. When I was half-way there - having put substantial money down to fly internationally with a family of three - they cancelled the interview and backed out. No apology. Killed the friendship.
• exabrial 8y ago
  No. That's ridiculous. If they want to hire you remotely they can interview you remotely. Unemployment is at an all time low, so employers are competing for the best. If they can't afford a an interview I imagine there may be more issues at hand
• mindcrime 8y ago
  I've spoken to a couple recruiters today who say it's uncommon for companies to reimburse applicants for travel, even if they have to get a flight from another state. That does not jibe with my experience at all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's more common for a company that expects you to fly, to buy the ticket for you up-front. And as others have said: if a company expects you to pay for your own travel for a long distance interview, they're just outing themselves as a company that you don't want to work for anyway. Personally, unless in an actual situation of pure desperation, I'd skip on pursuing any "opportunities" with companies that behave this way.
  • sgc 8y ago
    Exactly. If a company won't pay for travel, they are indicating they aim for the most desperate, thus in general the less capable and less well established. They do not aim for excellence but tend towards indentureship.
• segmondy 8y ago
  Nah don't do it. When people were far away, I interviewed them remotely, multiple phone interviews and video conference. That's enough to hire someone. If I needed you to see you in person, then I would eat the cost if I'm the one that approached you, unless you were the one who approached me for a job that I posted locally. Those recruiters don't care about you, they only care about their commission.
• rajacombinator 8y ago
  No way, those are scumbag lowball recruiters.
• dr_teh 8y ago
  Sounds like a scam.
  • developer2 8y ago
    Honestly, it sounds like the "recruiter" may not even be arranging an interview with an interested company. Perhaps they are trying to get gullible clients to fly in on their own dime to interview with the recruiter? As other commenters have noted in large numbers, this is not normal operating procedure for any real company, and thus my intuition is they are not offering an interview with a real company.
• tropo 8y ago
  It makes sense if the position was advertised for local candidates only. In that case, you'll have to do what it takes to be similar to a local. Otherwise, that's just crazy. For a position that is offered to non-local candidates, the company should pay for travel and lodging at minimum. Food would be nice too.
• kccqzy 8y ago
  That's just lying. I received reimbursement for every single interview I've had. Some companies might also give you a small stipend for spending or meal reimbursements while away from home, but at least reimbursing the cost of traveling should be included. I've also had a company that's literally ten miles away from where I live willing to reimburse me for Lyft rides to and from the office. That said, I've only ever interviewed for companies in the tech industry and the financial industry. It's possible that companies in other industries are different.
• mesozoic 8y ago
  Nope. I suppose if I really wanted to move to a particular place and they could group them together with a lot others I'd consider it.
• jason_slack 8y ago
  I've been on a few interviews in my life where it required flying from my home state. The companies always paid for a plane ticket up front. I've even had interviews that required a few hours of driving and they paid for parking, gas and even a hotel room once I provided receipts. Funny enough and sort of messed up, but, I went on a local interview earlier this year where I drove 30 mins to meet the person for coffee. I paid for coffee because the company credit card declined and that was his only form of payment. They offered me a 60 hour a week coding job for $30,000/year because they felt the work wasn't complicated and didn't require my c++ skills even thought their current code base was c++. They wanted to make no changes to the c++ code and start adding functionality using Python as "most college kids learn Python" and "would be happy to accept such a great job". I declined. I received a call from the CEO asking me why, they were really impressed. I said the salary was an insult and it was advertised as a $90,000/year job. He replied that he only takes $40,000 as a salary and the $90,000 figure was to attract interest, hoping to find someone who believed in the companies goals and would work for less money with the future hope of more. I suddenly had someone knocking at my door...