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What happens if the interview goes poorly? The interviewer gets paid, goes home with a shrug. The interviewee loses a day of PTO, or continues to be unemployed

What happens if the interview goes poorly? The interviewer gets paid, goes home with a shrug. The interviewee loses a day of PTO, or continues to be unemployed (and usually in a financially precarious situation). Imbalanced outcomes means imbalanced power.

vorpalhex 4y ago
You can always put yourself in a weak position. That doesn't mean the natural balance of power is that you are weak. At the end of the day, the company wants to hire you and you probably want to be hired. I generally urge people to think of this as a cooperation exercise and not a power struggle. Interviewers should treat interviewees with dignity and kindness, even when the interviewee is doing poorly. Interviewees should be gracious to the interviewer, even when they have decided to work elsewhere. The first side to stop being cooperative loses. The above does not however apply to salary negotiation.
- rpastuszak 4y ago
  > I generally urge people to think of this as a cooperation exercise and not a power struggle. Any "adversarial interview" techniques are a big red flag, imo. They also make it easy to quickly recognise places with a toxic culture, so there's not need to beat yourself up if you fail. You dodged a bullet, plus now have an excuse to rant with your friends over a pint! Hence, my favourite interviews (regardless of the side I was on) were the one when we had a chance to spend a day working with the candidate.
- Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
  > At the end of the day, the company wants to hire you and you probably want to be hired No, at the end of the day, the company wants to hire SOMEBODY. That somebody is not necessarily you, hence the interview. You're being compared to all the other candidates. Maybe this is different late in your career when you've got 10+ years experience under your belt, but there are a LOT of candidates in that "3-5 year" experience point.
kadoban 4y ago
> What happens if the interview goes poorly? The interviewer gets paid, goes home with a shrug. Yeah, and the company continues being understaffed for what they want to do, and often the interviewer is one of the people on that team who needs more people. (no it's not exactly the same)
ProZsolt 4y ago
This completely changed due to WFH and online interviews. I can take a little longer lunch break, do the interview from my home office, then continue with my current job. The only thing is lost is my midday walk and I have to eat something quick(eg.: sandwich) instead a proper meal.

vorpalhex 4y ago

You can always put yourself in a weak position. That doesn't mean the natural balance of power is that you are weak. At the end of the day, the company wants to hire you and you probably want to be hired. I generally urge people to think of this as a cooperation exercise and not a power struggle. Interviewers should treat interviewees with dignity and kindness, even when the interviewee is doing poorly. Interviewees should be gracious to the interviewer, even when they have decided to work elsewhere. The first side to stop being cooperative loses. The above does not however apply to salary negotiation.

rpastuszak 4y ago
> I generally urge people to think of this as a cooperation exercise and not a power struggle. Any "adversarial interview" techniques are a big red flag, imo. They also make it easy to quickly recognise places with a toxic culture, so there's not need to beat yourself up if you fail. You dodged a bullet, plus now have an excuse to rant with your friends over a pint! Hence, my favourite interviews (regardless of the side I was on) were the one when we had a chance to spend a day working with the candidate.
Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
> At the end of the day, the company wants to hire you and you probably want to be hired No, at the end of the day, the company wants to hire SOMEBODY. That somebody is not necessarily you, hence the interview. You're being compared to all the other candidates. Maybe this is different late in your career when you've got 10+ years experience under your belt, but there are a LOT of candidates in that "3-5 year" experience point.

kadoban 4y ago

> What happens if the interview goes poorly? The interviewer gets paid, goes home with a shrug. Yeah, and the company continues being understaffed for what they want to do, and often the interviewer is one of the people on that team who needs more people. (no it's not exactly the same)

ProZsolt 4y ago

This completely changed due to WFH and online interviews. I can take a little longer lunch break, do the interview from my home office, then continue with my current job. The only thing is lost is my midday walk and I have to eat something quick(eg.: sandwich) instead a proper meal.