6 ms·

Your quote of the article made me think I was going to hate the advice, but then I realized you quoted it out of context, here's the full quote: > People might

Your quote of the article made me think I was going to hate the advice, but then I realized you quoted it out of context, here's the full quote: > People might claim they have “signals” for these things… “if they ask about time off in the first interview then they are never going to be there!” But these are all bullshit. If you’re using signals like these you’re just guessing and turning away good candidates

gshulegaard 5y ago
I had the same thought process.
ramraj07 5y ago
Maybe we should all ask this question in our interviews so we can avoid these shitty teams that way!
- TheCoelacanth 5y ago
  Unfortunately, there are too many different ways to be shitty, so while it would filter out a few, a lot of shitty teams wouldn't be detected by that particular question.
  - colecut 5y ago
    So you're saying we need more questions
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- suzzer99 5y ago
  I like to ask if their health insurance covers drug rehab. That goes over well.
- France_is_bacon 5y ago
  I think that people should ask whatever they want to ask. If the interviewer doesn't like it, then it's not a good fit. For example, I would never agree to an interview if I don't know the pay range. I'm not going to sit through 5 interviews to make $30,000-ish when I am expecting $90,000-ish. I don't want to go to an interview if the company has less than gold level insurance. No way am I going to wait until the last interview to broach the topic, I don't care what is standard. If I apply to a job, I call up the department and say that I am considering applying for the job, but I want to know about x,y, and z first, because I don't want to waste either of our time. If they push back and say that we don't give out that information, then I just say, "I understand. I also don't give away my time, in order to find out after 15 hours of interviewing for your company that you want to pay $40K and I expect $80K. All the travel time, parking, preparation - why do it if there is a complete mismatch of the most basic things? Maybe you can bring this up to management, that your policies are not realistic. Good luck, hope you find a candidate." And then just hang up. Now, I know this wouldn't work in a huge Fortune 1000 company. I work in small- and mid-sized companies where pretty much I can reach decision makers. I don't know what I'd do in a large enterprise company. I guess that is why I would never apply to one in the first place.
DantesKite 5y ago
That’s a pretty huge distinction. Can’t believe he misrepresented the author like that.
- Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
  That was not my intention. I was operating under the assumption that anybody in the comment section had read the article first, since then it would have been known that I wasn't quoting the author, I was quoting something the author quoted.
  - svelle 5y ago
    It's the correct assumption to be made for the comments section to the article you quoted from.
    - njbooher 5y ago
      Reading the comments to decide if you want to read the article is also a valid workflow. Although anyone doing that (me included) isn't entitled to complain about quotes not having enough context.
  - ajb 5y ago
    I always look at the HN comments first to see if the article is worth reading, and probably other people do as well. HN loads quickly, doesn't have a paywall/cookie pop-up so it's just a better experience to look here first, and often the comments here are better value anyway.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  Vote with the down arrow. Why is it the first comment in this thread eden is complete nonsense?
- Vinnl 5y ago
  If you re-read the comment with the assumption that they were not trying to (mis)represent the author, it still makes sense, so I don't think that was the intention.
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
Ooof...re-reading my comment, I can certainly see your interpretation. It definitely was not my intent to paint the author of the article as the person who made that quote. Unfortunately, I can't edit my comment now.
- Carioca 5y ago
  I was going to not read the whole thing based on your comment, but now I'm reassured
  - ithkuil 5y ago
    I also regularly give a quick peek to the comments sections before reading the article in order to figure out whether I should bother reading. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't
- stavros 5y ago
  I was also put off from the article by the quote, but that's on me, not you. The article was great and I agree with everything in it.

gshulegaard 5y ago

I had the same thought process.

ramraj07 5y ago

Maybe we should all ask this question in our interviews so we can avoid these shitty teams that way!

TheCoelacanth 5y ago
Unfortunately, there are too many different ways to be shitty, so while it would filter out a few, a lot of shitty teams wouldn't be detected by that particular question.
- colecut 5y ago
  So you're saying we need more questions
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
suzzer99 5y ago
I like to ask if their health insurance covers drug rehab. That goes over well.
France_is_bacon 5y ago
I think that people should ask whatever they want to ask. If the interviewer doesn't like it, then it's not a good fit. For example, I would never agree to an interview if I don't know the pay range. I'm not going to sit through 5 interviews to make $30,000-ish when I am expecting $90,000-ish. I don't want to go to an interview if the company has less than gold level insurance. No way am I going to wait until the last interview to broach the topic, I don't care what is standard. If I apply to a job, I call up the department and say that I am considering applying for the job, but I want to know about x,y, and z first, because I don't want to waste either of our time. If they push back and say that we don't give out that information, then I just say, "I understand. I also don't give away my time, in order to find out after 15 hours of interviewing for your company that you want to pay $40K and I expect $80K. All the travel time, parking, preparation - why do it if there is a complete mismatch of the most basic things? Maybe you can bring this up to management, that your policies are not realistic. Good luck, hope you find a candidate." And then just hang up. Now, I know this wouldn't work in a huge Fortune 1000 company. I work in small- and mid-sized companies where pretty much I can reach decision makers. I don't know what I'd do in a large enterprise company. I guess that is why I would never apply to one in the first place.

DantesKite 5y ago

That’s a pretty huge distinction. Can’t believe he misrepresented the author like that.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
That was not my intention. I was operating under the assumption that anybody in the comment section had read the article first, since then it would have been known that I wasn't quoting the author, I was quoting something the author quoted.
- svelle 5y ago
  It's the correct assumption to be made for the comments section to the article you quoted from.
  - njbooher 5y ago
    Reading the comments to decide if you want to read the article is also a valid workflow. Although anyone doing that (me included) isn't entitled to complain about quotes not having enough context.
- ajb 5y ago
  I always look at the HN comments first to see if the article is worth reading, and probably other people do as well. HN loads quickly, doesn't have a paywall/cookie pop-up so it's just a better experience to look here first, and often the comments here are better value anyway.
TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
Vote with the down arrow. Why is it the first comment in this thread eden is complete nonsense?
Vinnl 5y ago
If you re-read the comment with the assumption that they were not trying to (mis)represent the author, it still makes sense, so I don't think that was the intention.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

Ooof...re-reading my comment, I can certainly see your interpretation. It definitely was not my intent to paint the author of the article as the person who made that quote. Unfortunately, I can't edit my comment now.

Carioca 5y ago
I was going to not read the whole thing based on your comment, but now I'm reassured
- ithkuil 5y ago
  I also regularly give a quick peek to the comments sections before reading the article in order to figure out whether I should bother reading. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't
stavros 5y ago
I was also put off from the article by the quote, but that's on me, not you. The article was great and I agree with everything in it.