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I’ve had this experience. I passed all of the interviews only to be failed by a senior manager that had some kind of expectation I couldn’t figure out. About 6

I’ve had this experience. I passed all of the interviews only to be failed by a senior manager that had some kind of expectation I couldn’t figure out. About 6 seconds into a phone call, I’d failed for not matching whatever expectation he had for how a phone call should go. As far as I can tell, he expected me to do everything his way without being asked. That was truly bizarre. I think I dodged a bullet there.

sshine 3y ago
I once failed a job interview at the algorithms exam. I don’t know what it is, I’ve done great in other BSc-level math oral exams. Felt weird to have two teams at the employer, one that felt confident about hiring me, and another that thought I’m deeply incompetent. Combine the scrutiny with a 3-6 month hiring process, I decided to dodge whatever that was.
leke 3y ago
So if this type of thing let's us dodge bullets, maybe nothing should change?
- ninkendo 3y ago
  Eh… it could be that the job is perfect in every respect except the one person (and they may be otherwise perfect in every respect except their interviewing skills.) It’s not 100% given that a bad interview experience implies a bad company to work for.
- kayodelycaon 3y ago
  My final interview with a different company included the CEO. I took the job despite the red flags because I needed money. While his antics and temper caused a lot of problems for many people, it didn’t affect my department much. I have a disability and no network to speak of. Getting job offers is difficult. I generally can’t afford to avoid every job with a red flag.
woleium 3y ago
> I think I dodged a bullet there. Bingo! Remember that the interview process is bidirectional, you are also interviewing them to see if you want to work there or not :))
- throwaway2990 3y ago
  If there is high demand and not enough to fill the roles or you’re able to go almost anywhere… then sure it’s bidirectional. But the majority of people it’s one sided. They don’t have the option to challenge the interviewer. They need the job, the income, and cannot risk getting rejected by appearing picky.
  - surgical_fire 3y ago
    But that's why the best time to interview for a job is when you are already employed and are not really looking for anything new. I did so many interviews without any intention of ever accepting the offer, it would be almost comical. But, it's great practice for when I actually want a new job, and refusing offers always massage my ego.
    - throwaway2990 3y ago
      Sure. But the 10s of 1000s of people laid off this year don’t have that luxury.
    - bradlys 3y ago
      If the modern process didn’t involve so much leetcode and insane amounts of highly tuned preparation - I’d agree this would be reasonable. However, it takes most candidates that I know over 100 hours of prep to even pass most technical screens after they’ve had a job for a couple years. The regular occurrence being nights and weekends for a quarter then interviewing aggressively for the next quarter. (While still studying of course) Maybe different in your roles or part of the world but in SV - it’s brutal.
karmelapple 3y ago
I think you did. When the actual hiring manager, or someone above that person, shows you a concerning aspect of themselves during in the interview, that’s them trying to impress you, demonstrating their best behavior. It won’t be better after you get hired.
CapmCrackaWaka 3y ago
I noticed long ago that many people have their own interviewing “secrets”. Remember that story about how Henry Ford would fail applicants if they put salt on their meal without trying it first? A lot of people take stories/ideas like that to heart. The person interviewing you was probably offended you called him by his first name or something. “A good applicant won’t do that”.
- willcipriano 3y ago
  It's always some nonsense like: "He used his left foot to enter the room. A good candidate will use his right as they will put their best foot forward."
  - devsegal 3y ago
    thanks for the chuckle
  - panxyh 3y ago
    The salt thing isn’t in the same league of nonsense as the foot thing. It does tell something about the person.
    - ResearchCode 3y ago
      Tells you something about their salt tolerance. It makes all the difference in plumbing together CRUD applications effectively.
      - Ekaros 3y ago
        My salt tolerance is so screwed that maybe I deserve to get failed in interviews for that... Still, seems quite unreasonable.
    - ProjectArcturis 3y ago
      What does it tell you?
jarsin 3y ago
This is why I keep saying that hiring has become like dating. Everyone has become Seinfeld trying to find a perfect match and inventing all kinds of idiotic tests. It's not like getting a job is getting married. Average tenure is like 2 to 3 years now. Most of these companies won't be around in 5 years.

sshine 3y ago

I once failed a job interview at the algorithms exam. I don’t know what it is, I’ve done great in other BSc-level math oral exams. Felt weird to have two teams at the employer, one that felt confident about hiring me, and another that thought I’m deeply incompetent. Combine the scrutiny with a 3-6 month hiring process, I decided to dodge whatever that was.

leke 3y ago

So if this type of thing let's us dodge bullets, maybe nothing should change?

ninkendo 3y ago
Eh… it could be that the job is perfect in every respect except the one person (and they may be otherwise perfect in every respect except their interviewing skills.) It’s not 100% given that a bad interview experience implies a bad company to work for.
kayodelycaon 3y ago
My final interview with a different company included the CEO. I took the job despite the red flags because I needed money. While his antics and temper caused a lot of problems for many people, it didn’t affect my department much. I have a disability and no network to speak of. Getting job offers is difficult. I generally can’t afford to avoid every job with a red flag.

woleium 3y ago

> I think I dodged a bullet there. Bingo! Remember that the interview process is bidirectional, you are also interviewing them to see if you want to work there or not :))

throwaway2990 3y ago
If there is high demand and not enough to fill the roles or you’re able to go almost anywhere… then sure it’s bidirectional. But the majority of people it’s one sided. They don’t have the option to challenge the interviewer. They need the job, the income, and cannot risk getting rejected by appearing picky.
- surgical_fire 3y ago
  But that's why the best time to interview for a job is when you are already employed and are not really looking for anything new. I did so many interviews without any intention of ever accepting the offer, it would be almost comical. But, it's great practice for when I actually want a new job, and refusing offers always massage my ego.
  - throwaway2990 3y ago
    Sure. But the 10s of 1000s of people laid off this year don’t have that luxury.
  - bradlys 3y ago
    If the modern process didn’t involve so much leetcode and insane amounts of highly tuned preparation - I’d agree this would be reasonable. However, it takes most candidates that I know over 100 hours of prep to even pass most technical screens after they’ve had a job for a couple years. The regular occurrence being nights and weekends for a quarter then interviewing aggressively for the next quarter. (While still studying of course) Maybe different in your roles or part of the world but in SV - it’s brutal.

karmelapple 3y ago

I think you did. When the actual hiring manager, or someone above that person, shows you a concerning aspect of themselves during in the interview, that’s them trying to impress you, demonstrating their best behavior. It won’t be better after you get hired.

CapmCrackaWaka 3y ago

I noticed long ago that many people have their own interviewing “secrets”. Remember that story about how Henry Ford would fail applicants if they put salt on their meal without trying it first? A lot of people take stories/ideas like that to heart. The person interviewing you was probably offended you called him by his first name or something. “A good applicant won’t do that”.

willcipriano 3y ago
It's always some nonsense like: "He used his left foot to enter the room. A good candidate will use his right as they will put their best foot forward."
- devsegal 3y ago
  thanks for the chuckle
- panxyh 3y ago
  The salt thing isn’t in the same league of nonsense as the foot thing. It does tell something about the person.
  - ResearchCode 3y ago
    Tells you something about their salt tolerance. It makes all the difference in plumbing together CRUD applications effectively.
    - Ekaros 3y ago
      My salt tolerance is so screwed that maybe I deserve to get failed in interviews for that... Still, seems quite unreasonable.
  - ProjectArcturis 3y ago
    What does it tell you?

jarsin 3y ago

This is why I keep saying that hiring has become like dating. Everyone has become Seinfeld trying to find a perfect match and inventing all kinds of idiotic tests. It's not like getting a job is getting married. Average tenure is like 2 to 3 years now. Most of these companies won't be around in 5 years.