6 ms·

I have never been treated this bad in an interview process in 20 years

33 points by gsibble 4y ago

csa 4y ago
Looks like the end result was good for the author. What qualified person would want to work at a place like that?
- gsibble 4y ago
  It's definitely good for me and I wouldn't. Just spreading the word not to work for them.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
iibarea 4y ago
This ... doesn't seem that bad? And I don't think I'd conclude that someone had found out something about me illegally or unethically unless there was something really shitty to find out?
- gsibble 4y ago
  Having hired over 200 people in my career, I always am willing to tell them directly why I didn't hire them and give them constructive feedback or if I found something they should make sure doesn't get discovered by other companies. The only reason to lie about why I wasn't hired is because they are hiding something.
  - figassis 4y ago
    It’s not great that they were this unprofessional, but many (most?) companies will not give you the real reason for passing. You may get “there were better candidates” and it might be true, but it might just have been your expected salary, or your unwillingness to work weekends/long hours, etc.
    - gsibble 4y ago
      It's not just that they passed or didn't give a reason, but they gave a clear lie as the reason.
    - hiyer 4y ago
      Very true - I've reached the interview stage and been rejected probably a dozen times over my career. The only company which provided detailed feedback on my performance was Facebook. All the others just sent a generic rejection mail.
  - sheeshkebab 4y ago
    It’s all good providing feedback left and right until someone sues for discrimination. This risk is why hr prefers to ghost candidates instead.
    - gsibble 4y ago
      That's why it's interesting he didn't ghost me. He did provide a reason: timeline. Which is a stupid reason since timeline can be pushed out. Then he didn't even try to give another reason and just ghosted me.
- dm03514 4y ago
  I was going to respond same thing :sweat:. this seems like _normal_ startup hiring based on my experiences. People pass, people make stuff up to pass. Sticker shock could have factored in for CEO. I def empathize with the author. They thought they were a shoe in, thought everything was smooth and then wasn't responded to promptly, that sucks. I'm sure it was a rollercoaster during the time, excited about the new role, opportunity and $ and then denied for no known reason. Not sure if it's reasonable to jump to illegal or unethical information?
  - gsibble 4y ago
    See my other reply. Perhaps a bit of a jump but then why lie about the reason, especially so dumb as timeline?
    - imwithstoopid 4y ago
      Most people just shrug, mutter "companies can be stupid" and move on
mparnisari 4y ago
If this was your worst, you haven't done many interviews...
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
  So, let me get this straight. They decided to pass on OP, so the CEO is a serial liar (for certain)?? Hmm... I think I need more evidence for such bold claims. Also... > Since I am very senior, the 2nd interview was barely an interview at all. This... just isn't how it works. Something seemed really off about the entire post.
khochesh_kushat 4y ago
Maybe I've just been unlucky but this seems rather routine for when a company doesn't want to move forward for whatever reason.
glofish 4y ago
I read the post, it seems someone cancelled a meeting and the candidate got a little antsy, then started using a type of language that scared off the employer. Nothing in the posts seems extremely outrageous to me, they could have been nicer to him ... but let's be serious. As a matter of fact, after reading the post I would not hire this candidate either - to be honest. Something feels very odd -like essential information has been left out. He seems like someone that thinks very highly of themselves, always a bad sign.
- gsibble 4y ago
  Nope, nothing left out.
  - nomel 4y ago
    Well, this isn’t true, clearly. The actual correspondence are left out, which is the foundation of everything.
    - gsibble 4y ago
      I'm happy to share it if you'd like.
  - stripline 4y ago
    It looks like where you went wrong was replying with a screenshot of your calendar. That and the likely passive aggressive text accompanying it was probably a red flag for Jacob. The fact that you posted this drivel vindicates him.
    - glofish 4y ago
      my thoughts exactly, the whole post has a whiff of passive aggressive attitude, all the names and accusations, it reflects extraordinarily badly on the writer, primarily goes to show that intelligent people with hurt feelings are doing idiotic things and end up harming themselves just to "get back" to the other side
  - 4y ago
powera 4y ago
Not sure if this is canvassed voting, or a ton of people reflexively vote up anything negative. Based on the entitlement throughout ("rescinded my offer" when the interview process clearly hadn't completed), I'm not surprised they might have found a reason not to go forward.
pedrosorio 4y ago
> Taking two days to respond (...) the most unprofessional I had ever experienced in interviewing at a technology company in decades Can't say I've had the same experience.
sokoloff 4y ago
An interview loop had a scheduling glitch and the company decided to not extend an offer. Raise your hand if you’ve heard of vastly worse treatment of candidates. Damn, that’s a lot of hands…
greenthrow 4y ago
OP that experience sounds mildly annoying. You come off as someone I would never want to work with.
bilekas 4y ago
I have to agree with the other comments that this isn't too bad an experience, it's unfortunate and maybe unprofessional. From your article I get the impression there could be any number of legitimate reasons that the CEO isn't prepared to share. It's less likely the CEO just set out to lie to you. You dodged a bullet I guess, might be worth keeping an eye on the company, maybe they're shutting down unexpectedly. Good luck with the search though.
- gsibble 4y ago
  Thanks!
elromulous 4y ago
I'd be curious to hear the CEO respond. It's rather unfortunate, but with interviewing, like with dating, you don't always get to know why the other party passed on you.
imwithstoopid 4y ago
Ha! That's nothing...I had a senior technologist at Nvidia ask me to reschedule our interview so I could go research his accomplishments and provide a written report outlining his profound impacts...
- tough 4y ago
  Seems great work for ChatGPT, if it gets yo a job.
wantsanagent 4y ago
Getting ghosted sucks, but this seems like a huge over-reaction. By the end of the article I was thinking that Levee dogged a bullet on this one.
thatguymike 4y ago
CEO is slightly tardy replying to an email, then declines to give a detailed reason for passing on the candidate? OP's reaction here makes it pretty clear that the company made a good decision.
mrslave 4y ago
We'll find out why when the new CTO is publicly announced. I suspect they simply found someone else. Doesn't help that the CEO is quick to make promises verbally, but I'm sure this is common.
- gsibble 4y ago
  Actually, they've interviewed 25 people for the role and no one else is in the pipeline.
semiquaver 4y ago
I don’t really understand why I found this at the top of HN, but it feels likely to be popular for reasons other than intended, as OP comes off as entitled and prone to overreaction. I would never hire someone who wrote a post like this in response to such a mild slight, it demonstrates a tendency to blow small things way out of proportion. The supposed offenses of the employer are extremely commonplace in hiring, saying this from having been on both sides many times. Sometimes you don’t get to know why they took a pass, usually because you wouldn’t like the answer. Having such thin skin is a personality flaw and I daresay the CEO picked up on that.
sys_64738 4y ago
The most unprofessional interview process I’ve had was with AWS. Very amateurish.
Jupe 4y ago
Maybe Levee is wading into the AI-assisted talent search space (ala Draup, Fetcher, hireview) and the algorithm spotted something "iffy"? (Not saying there is anything truly "iffy", but who knows).
nycdatasci 4y ago
Sorry to hear that you had this experience. Sometimes, things happen for a reason. Given your prior experience as a very senior person, you're probably in-tune with the current state of the economy. It's easy to imagine that a company that is primarily focused on transforming the hiring process may be experiencing real hardship and uncertainty at the moment. Circumstances change. Don't resort to public personal attacks.
sheeshkebab 4y ago
Why is this top headline?
joegibbs 4y ago
I feel like this post comes off more poorly for you than them. Honestly, there's nothing that they've done that's particularly egregious - lying about reasons isn't ethical but it's something that happens a lot. Writing a full blog post about how terrible they are though might make other companies nervous that you'd do the same to them for some perceived slight.
CottonMcKnight 4y ago
The second meeting was scheduled for after the CEO checked his references. Then the second meeting never happened and "things got weird." I wonder what his references said.
jacknews 4y ago
I mean they sound disorganized or indecisive or something, but this doesn't seem outrageously unprofessional or disrespectful to me. I wonder what doting kid-gloves the author has been handled with in the past to warrant that assessment. Also, reading recent tech job news, it seems like the author should maybe steel themselves for further disrespect and unprofessionalism if they are still looking for work.
chrismcb 4y ago
Looks like the post had been deleted
gsibble 4y ago
Why was this flagged and how do I resubmit so it doesn't get flagged?
- anenefan 4y ago
  Users flag and down vote for all sorts of reasons - from what I see at times, no rhyme or reason even if it's interesting or answers someone's query directly. However I would think that removing the content ... new users like myself would consider flagging the thread ... I was temped to, but noted your reply here and sort of guess you're thinking about how to explain it better /fully. The FAQ outlines resubmission is frowned upon unless some time has passed, I think a year was mentioned. You have my commiserations, but you should consider perhaps it a silver lining - some people seem professional, but are burdened with a poor communication skills or management hierarchy communication latency - IMO it'd lead to annoyance / irritation somewhere down the track. At the very least an interview process should end with a kind rejection blurb.
- kodah 4y ago
  Frankly, this reads like a vendetta post, and HN isn't your personal army. I've read over your Substack, other posts you've submitted to HN, posts made on Twitter, and a very lengthy thread you went on recently. You haven't listened to anyone who has said this to you in less direct words, so maybe this will help: your posts make you not seem well. I wouldn't make you my boss, I wouldn't hire you, and I certainly wouldn't invest in you; not in this state anyway. You seem detached from reality, angry, and entitled. Delete this crap, delete your comments on HN (dang can help with that), and get into a therapy session showing them all of this. They can help you deal with anger, stress, and disappointment. Maybe you've just dealt with a lot of that lately.
WirelessGigabit 4y ago
Deleted.
thunderbong 4y ago
For those reading the comments first - this page is now deleted. Kind of confirms everything in the comments thread here.
sacnoradhq 4y ago
An unprofessional interview is when: 1. They ask about your race, ethnicity, age, kids, and/or marital status almost immediately 2. They ask you to do borderline non-trivial "homework" to prepare but then skip it completely 3. They cut you off and basically push you out the door 4. They clip their nails and don't listen to you 5. They ask you some open-ended, deeply-technical trivia question and already have a cookie-cutter answer they're looking for rather than 6. They ask you random brain-teasers unrelated to the job 7. They pretend to hire you but are just milking you for free advice and free labor, but there was no real job (FITW- ServiceBell is shady af) 8. They fire you because a director makes racist remarks about the offshore team because you were a witness Guess how many of these I've experienced?
mr_woozy 4y ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20230331010423/https://startupdreams.substack.com/p/i-just-had-the-worst-interview-process https://web.archive.org/web/20230331010423/https://startupdr...
- anenefan 4y ago
  Thanks. Now having read about what went down rather then trying to put it together from comments, to me the best guess is the company / CEO was just going though the motions / churning and had one or two other people actually in mind from the onset. I'd probably not use the term lie though, bullshitted, and blowing smoke in someone's face is more to the point in regard to what was more probable in that interview charade. The only other half reasonable assumption is there's a lot of politicking going on between various department levels, and the CEO knew fairly quickly George was a threat to whatever machinations where in the wind ... or was just too clever by half.

33 points by gsibble 4y ago

csa 4y ago

Looks like the end result was good for the author. What qualified person would want to work at a place like that?

gsibble 4y ago
It's definitely good for me and I wouldn't. Just spreading the word not to work for them.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

iibarea 4y ago

This ... doesn't seem that bad? And I don't think I'd conclude that someone had found out something about me illegally or unethically unless there was something really shitty to find out?

gsibble 4y ago
Having hired over 200 people in my career, I always am willing to tell them directly why I didn't hire them and give them constructive feedback or if I found something they should make sure doesn't get discovered by other companies. The only reason to lie about why I wasn't hired is because they are hiding something.
- figassis 4y ago
  It’s not great that they were this unprofessional, but many (most?) companies will not give you the real reason for passing. You may get “there were better candidates” and it might be true, but it might just have been your expected salary, or your unwillingness to work weekends/long hours, etc.
  - gsibble 4y ago
    It's not just that they passed or didn't give a reason, but they gave a clear lie as the reason.
  - hiyer 4y ago
    Very true - I've reached the interview stage and been rejected probably a dozen times over my career. The only company which provided detailed feedback on my performance was Facebook. All the others just sent a generic rejection mail.
- sheeshkebab 4y ago
  It’s all good providing feedback left and right until someone sues for discrimination. This risk is why hr prefers to ghost candidates instead.
  - gsibble 4y ago
    That's why it's interesting he didn't ghost me. He did provide a reason: timeline. Which is a stupid reason since timeline can be pushed out. Then he didn't even try to give another reason and just ghosted me.
dm03514 4y ago
I was going to respond same thing :sweat:. this seems like _normal_ startup hiring based on my experiences. People pass, people make stuff up to pass. Sticker shock could have factored in for CEO. I def empathize with the author. They thought they were a shoe in, thought everything was smooth and then wasn't responded to promptly, that sucks. I'm sure it was a rollercoaster during the time, excited about the new role, opportunity and $ and then denied for no known reason. Not sure if it's reasonable to jump to illegal or unethical information?
- gsibble 4y ago
  See my other reply. Perhaps a bit of a jump but then why lie about the reason, especially so dumb as timeline?
  - imwithstoopid 4y ago
    Most people just shrug, mutter "companies can be stupid" and move on

mparnisari 4y ago

If this was your worst, you haven't done many interviews...

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
So, let me get this straight. They decided to pass on OP, so the CEO is a serial liar (for certain)?? Hmm... I think I need more evidence for such bold claims. Also... > Since I am very senior, the 2nd interview was barely an interview at all. This... just isn't how it works. Something seemed really off about the entire post.

khochesh_kushat 4y ago

Maybe I've just been unlucky but this seems rather routine for when a company doesn't want to move forward for whatever reason.

glofish 4y ago

I read the post, it seems someone cancelled a meeting and the candidate got a little antsy, then started using a type of language that scared off the employer. Nothing in the posts seems extremely outrageous to me, they could have been nicer to him ... but let's be serious. As a matter of fact, after reading the post I would not hire this candidate either - to be honest. Something feels very odd -like essential information has been left out. He seems like someone that thinks very highly of themselves, always a bad sign.

gsibble 4y ago
Nope, nothing left out.
- nomel 4y ago
  Well, this isn’t true, clearly. The actual correspondence are left out, which is the foundation of everything.
  - gsibble 4y ago
    I'm happy to share it if you'd like.
- stripline 4y ago
  It looks like where you went wrong was replying with a screenshot of your calendar. That and the likely passive aggressive text accompanying it was probably a red flag for Jacob. The fact that you posted this drivel vindicates him.
  - glofish 4y ago
    my thoughts exactly, the whole post has a whiff of passive aggressive attitude, all the names and accusations, it reflects extraordinarily badly on the writer, primarily goes to show that intelligent people with hurt feelings are doing idiotic things and end up harming themselves just to "get back" to the other side
- 4y ago

powera 4y ago

Not sure if this is canvassed voting, or a ton of people reflexively vote up anything negative. Based on the entitlement throughout ("rescinded my offer" when the interview process clearly hadn't completed), I'm not surprised they might have found a reason not to go forward.

pedrosorio 4y ago

> Taking two days to respond (...) the most unprofessional I had ever experienced in interviewing at a technology company in decades Can't say I've had the same experience.

sokoloff 4y ago

An interview loop had a scheduling glitch and the company decided to not extend an offer. Raise your hand if you’ve heard of vastly worse treatment of candidates. Damn, that’s a lot of hands…

greenthrow 4y ago

OP that experience sounds mildly annoying. You come off as someone I would never want to work with.

bilekas 4y ago

I have to agree with the other comments that this isn't too bad an experience, it's unfortunate and maybe unprofessional. From your article I get the impression there could be any number of legitimate reasons that the CEO isn't prepared to share. It's less likely the CEO just set out to lie to you. You dodged a bullet I guess, might be worth keeping an eye on the company, maybe they're shutting down unexpectedly. Good luck with the search though.

gsibble 4y ago
Thanks!

elromulous 4y ago

I'd be curious to hear the CEO respond. It's rather unfortunate, but with interviewing, like with dating, you don't always get to know why the other party passed on you.

imwithstoopid 4y ago

Ha! That's nothing...I had a senior technologist at Nvidia ask me to reschedule our interview so I could go research his accomplishments and provide a written report outlining his profound impacts...

tough 4y ago
Seems great work for ChatGPT, if it gets yo a job.

wantsanagent 4y ago

Getting ghosted sucks, but this seems like a huge over-reaction. By the end of the article I was thinking that Levee dogged a bullet on this one.

thatguymike 4y ago

CEO is slightly tardy replying to an email, then declines to give a detailed reason for passing on the candidate? OP's reaction here makes it pretty clear that the company made a good decision.

mrslave 4y ago

We'll find out why when the new CTO is publicly announced. I suspect they simply found someone else. Doesn't help that the CEO is quick to make promises verbally, but I'm sure this is common.

gsibble 4y ago
Actually, they've interviewed 25 people for the role and no one else is in the pipeline.

semiquaver 4y ago

I don’t really understand why I found this at the top of HN, but it feels likely to be popular for reasons other than intended, as OP comes off as entitled and prone to overreaction. I would never hire someone who wrote a post like this in response to such a mild slight, it demonstrates a tendency to blow small things way out of proportion. The supposed offenses of the employer are extremely commonplace in hiring, saying this from having been on both sides many times. Sometimes you don’t get to know why they took a pass, usually because you wouldn’t like the answer. Having such thin skin is a personality flaw and I daresay the CEO picked up on that.

sys_64738 4y ago

The most unprofessional interview process I’ve had was with AWS. Very amateurish.

Jupe 4y ago

Maybe Levee is wading into the AI-assisted talent search space (ala Draup, Fetcher, hireview) and the algorithm spotted something "iffy"? (Not saying there is anything truly "iffy", but who knows).

nycdatasci 4y ago

Sorry to hear that you had this experience. Sometimes, things happen for a reason. Given your prior experience as a very senior person, you're probably in-tune with the current state of the economy. It's easy to imagine that a company that is primarily focused on transforming the hiring process may be experiencing real hardship and uncertainty at the moment. Circumstances change. Don't resort to public personal attacks.

sheeshkebab 4y ago

Why is this top headline?

joegibbs 4y ago

I feel like this post comes off more poorly for you than them. Honestly, there's nothing that they've done that's particularly egregious - lying about reasons isn't ethical but it's something that happens a lot. Writing a full blog post about how terrible they are though might make other companies nervous that you'd do the same to them for some perceived slight.

CottonMcKnight 4y ago

The second meeting was scheduled for after the CEO checked his references. Then the second meeting never happened and "things got weird." I wonder what his references said.

jacknews 4y ago

I mean they sound disorganized or indecisive or something, but this doesn't seem outrageously unprofessional or disrespectful to me. I wonder what doting kid-gloves the author has been handled with in the past to warrant that assessment. Also, reading recent tech job news, it seems like the author should maybe steel themselves for further disrespect and unprofessionalism if they are still looking for work.

chrismcb 4y ago

Looks like the post had been deleted

gsibble 4y ago

Why was this flagged and how do I resubmit so it doesn't get flagged?

anenefan 4y ago
Users flag and down vote for all sorts of reasons - from what I see at times, no rhyme or reason even if it's interesting or answers someone's query directly. However I would think that removing the content ... new users like myself would consider flagging the thread ... I was temped to, but noted your reply here and sort of guess you're thinking about how to explain it better /fully. The FAQ outlines resubmission is frowned upon unless some time has passed, I think a year was mentioned. You have my commiserations, but you should consider perhaps it a silver lining - some people seem professional, but are burdened with a poor communication skills or management hierarchy communication latency - IMO it'd lead to annoyance / irritation somewhere down the track. At the very least an interview process should end with a kind rejection blurb.
kodah 4y ago
Frankly, this reads like a vendetta post, and HN isn't your personal army. I've read over your Substack, other posts you've submitted to HN, posts made on Twitter, and a very lengthy thread you went on recently. You haven't listened to anyone who has said this to you in less direct words, so maybe this will help: your posts make you not seem well. I wouldn't make you my boss, I wouldn't hire you, and I certainly wouldn't invest in you; not in this state anyway. You seem detached from reality, angry, and entitled. Delete this crap, delete your comments on HN (dang can help with that), and get into a therapy session showing them all of this. They can help you deal with anger, stress, and disappointment. Maybe you've just dealt with a lot of that lately.

WirelessGigabit 4y ago

Deleted.

thunderbong 4y ago

For those reading the comments first - this page is now deleted. Kind of confirms everything in the comments thread here.

sacnoradhq 4y ago

An unprofessional interview is when: 1. They ask about your race, ethnicity, age, kids, and/or marital status almost immediately 2. They ask you to do borderline non-trivial "homework" to prepare but then skip it completely 3. They cut you off and basically push you out the door 4. They clip their nails and don't listen to you 5. They ask you some open-ended, deeply-technical trivia question and already have a cookie-cutter answer they're looking for rather than 6. They ask you random brain-teasers unrelated to the job 7. They pretend to hire you but are just milking you for free advice and free labor, but there was no real job (FITW- ServiceBell is shady af) 8. They fire you because a director makes racist remarks about the offshore team because you were a witness Guess how many of these I've experienced?

mr_woozy 4y ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20230331010423/https://startupdreams.substack.com/p/i-just-had-the-worst-interview-process https://web.archive.org/web/20230331010423/https://startupdr...

anenefan 4y ago
Thanks. Now having read about what went down rather then trying to put it together from comments, to me the best guess is the company / CEO was just going though the motions / churning and had one or two other people actually in mind from the onset. I'd probably not use the term lie though, bullshitted, and blowing smoke in someone's face is more to the point in regard to what was more probable in that interview charade. The only other half reasonable assumption is there's a lot of politicking going on between various department levels, and the CEO knew fairly quickly George was a threat to whatever machinations where in the wind ... or was just too clever by half.