4 ms·

Every interview process I've had after I got my first job I was able to talk to basically anyone I wanted and set up extra calls just to ask about the company,

Every interview process I've had after I got my first job I was able to talk to basically anyone I wanted and set up extra calls just to ask about the company, process, product, etc. I don't have great insight into the meta for picking the right questions, but I feel like people really don't take advantage of their power in job-hunting. Ask to talk to an engineer currently on the team. Ask to talk to someone more customer-facing to talk about the product and the business (especially if it's a small company). Or don't if you don't care about those things. These lists are a useful tool in figuring out what you might care about or not care about. I think that's the best insight into what meta to follow: some introspection on your values. Finally, as with anything else, it's an iterative process. You won't get everything right the first time and the target moves as your values do.

denimnerd42 4y ago
Still, there's some questions you'd want to ask that would be an immediate red flag but regardless of answer outcome you still want a job offer since you are interviewing multiple places in parallel and you don't know how picky you can be. You end up not asking those questions because they'd put your "culture fit" at risk. You can ask other questions and try to read between the lines but bottom line it's tough to know exactly what you're getting into no matter how much access you get. Early this year I spent 3 or 4 months job searching for my next role and ended up not taking any of the 3 offers because something seemed off at all of them. After I got the offers the recruiters turned into used car salesmen which was also a different, terrible experience. So even if you do end up with the insight it can be a gigantic waste of time.
- llbeansandrice 4y ago
  I've personally never experienced this sort of thing. It's entirely possible I'm a combination of lucky and privileged (eg I'm NT as far as I know). That aside, I feel like you need to determine what your values are and pursue lines of questioning along those. They should be things that are near deal-breakers. I just don't really understand not asking a question whose answer is highly valuable to you because you're worried about getting red-flagged by the company. I also don't really get pursuing offers from companies you don't care about unless there are heavy job market pressures eg being a new grad/looking for your first job in the industry. Even then, the idea is to just get your first job, so your values are different than when you're more senior. Recruiters can absolutely be awful. I've straight up ghosted multiple because they were unable to take "no" for an answer.

denimnerd42 4y ago

Still, there's some questions you'd want to ask that would be an immediate red flag but regardless of answer outcome you still want a job offer since you are interviewing multiple places in parallel and you don't know how picky you can be. You end up not asking those questions because they'd put your "culture fit" at risk. You can ask other questions and try to read between the lines but bottom line it's tough to know exactly what you're getting into no matter how much access you get. Early this year I spent 3 or 4 months job searching for my next role and ended up not taking any of the 3 offers because something seemed off at all of them. After I got the offers the recruiters turned into used car salesmen which was also a different, terrible experience. So even if you do end up with the insight it can be a gigantic waste of time.

llbeansandrice 4y ago
I've personally never experienced this sort of thing. It's entirely possible I'm a combination of lucky and privileged (eg I'm NT as far as I know). That aside, I feel like you need to determine what your values are and pursue lines of questioning along those. They should be things that are near deal-breakers. I just don't really understand not asking a question whose answer is highly valuable to you because you're worried about getting red-flagged by the company. I also don't really get pursuing offers from companies you don't care about unless there are heavy job market pressures eg being a new grad/looking for your first job in the industry. Even then, the idea is to just get your first job, so your values are different than when you're more senior. Recruiters can absolutely be awful. I've straight up ghosted multiple because they were unable to take "no" for an answer.