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Because then your interviewer does a hatchet-job on you in a feedback form and you get shitlisted from interviewing at Google forever. That's the problem with

Because then your interviewer does a hatchet-job on you in a feedback form and you get shitlisted from interviewing at Google forever. That's the problem with large companies. There are companies where I would just walk out of an abusive interview, because the brokenness represents their whole company. Then you have massive, mega, ultra-sized companies like Google where even though this particular team is beating you with the interview bat, you may still want to work for other teams. This is probably confirmation bias speaking, but by far I hear the most "primadonna interviewer" stories come out of Google. I'm not sure if that's just my impression or if there's really something going on there.

JonFish85 13y ago
That's definitely a fair point, especially about bigger companies. Personally, I value my reputation (real-life, not with whatever HN points says) very, very highly, so I'd imagine doing something like I described would be an excellent way to really leave a stain on your resume.
- icedchai 13y ago
  I've walked out of interviews before. I told them, politely, that I was not a fit for the organization and I didn't want to waste anyone elses time.
numbsafari 13y ago
Funny that there seems to be a consensus that Google can effectively black-list people, and yet it seems they can't even keep track of who they are supposed to actually interview or who they have previously contacted about interviewing.
- JanezStupar 13y ago
  If you are blacklisted, then someone needs to check the blacklist just once for your process to get terminated. If you are scheduled, many people must refrain from screwing up. It even took them months to figure out that they hired an ex convict, after he personally disclosed the fact multiple times. I had great hopes for Google to innovate in sense of culture. I saw Larry Page and Sergey Brin as intellectuals. Turns out they just went and built a high school elite club, for geeks. Another bloated company ran by a corps of smug geeks that like to claim how they are holier than thou. I am really sad about it.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- throwaway86 13y ago
  Sourcers are under a lot of pressure, and I've noticed it not limited to Google. Rackspace set up a flight to San Antonio for me then cancelled it the evening before after their lawyers waved them off me due to my background (discussed above). A couple months later Rackspace cold called me to work there. It's a usual thing, I think, and I don't hold it against them.
  - numbsafari 13y ago
    I get that, from your perspective, this is a forgivable thing. But if I'm Google or Rackspace, and I'm reading about this process from your side, I have to be asking myself "why am I paying these clowns?" Hiring is one of the most important things companies do. If they are this disorganized, and if their cultural commitment to hiring is so poor that people are regularly brought in and interviewers are not present or available or confused about why either of you are there, then there is a huge amount of waste going on and there's a huge amount of missed opportunities. I don't know you, but let's assume you are really good at what you do (and going by the number of people you had recommending you, you're probably pretty good at what you do). The fact of the matter is that Google totally missed the boat here and burned a lot of extra money in the process. Beyond that, for the two years or so that they were jerking around, you could have been a part of the team, making solid contributions. Instead, you were elsewhere making solid contributions that they may have had to defend against. So, the real waste is in the opportunity cost. What I'm getting at is, if I'm a senior executive at one of these companies, I have to be looking at my hiring process and going "WTF?". Because that's what it deserves. Something is seriously broken and it is potentially a strategic threat.
r00fus 13y ago
As someone who's had to conduct some interviews, that's the opposite of my reaction. If I show up to an interview slot (for which I'm spending my 15-30m), and the candidate speaks up about a mis-scheduling or whatever, and convinces me it's not worth our time to meet, I'll be happy to regain my time and complain to the HRbot/hiring manager about scheduling issues (aka please don't waste the my/company's time by messing up the scheduling).
hippee-lee 13y ago
Ah, but you don't have to just walk out telling them they wasted your time. It only talkes a moment to check you muted phone and'OMG - there is an emergency at home/with my child/spouse etc. So very sorry but you have to leave right now to take care of it. Hopefully they understand and can reschedule after the emergency is taken care of." End of story and if you catch them early enough in the interview you can be back at work happily coding the latest story in current sprint. You should do what's best for you but understand why the folks on here are defending google; it's a big place and they are mostly powerless when it comes to direct influence or manipulation. Understand that and it will give you insight into how to hack their system for your benefit both before you are hired there AND after multiple interviews when you find that right team when but need to deal with ingrained systems; which rules must be followed and which rules everyone ignores, when to ask for forgiveness later and when and how to cover your ass from the start.

JonFish85 13y ago

That's definitely a fair point, especially about bigger companies. Personally, I value my reputation (real-life, not with whatever HN points says) very, very highly, so I'd imagine doing something like I described would be an excellent way to really leave a stain on your resume.

icedchai 13y ago
I've walked out of interviews before. I told them, politely, that I was not a fit for the organization and I didn't want to waste anyone elses time.

numbsafari 13y ago

Funny that there seems to be a consensus that Google can effectively black-list people, and yet it seems they can't even keep track of who they are supposed to actually interview or who they have previously contacted about interviewing.

JanezStupar 13y ago
If you are blacklisted, then someone needs to check the blacklist just once for your process to get terminated. If you are scheduled, many people must refrain from screwing up. It even took them months to figure out that they hired an ex convict, after he personally disclosed the fact multiple times. I had great hopes for Google to innovate in sense of culture. I saw Larry Page and Sergey Brin as intellectuals. Turns out they just went and built a high school elite club, for geeks. Another bloated company ran by a corps of smug geeks that like to claim how they are holier than thou. I am really sad about it.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
throwaway86 13y ago
Sourcers are under a lot of pressure, and I've noticed it not limited to Google. Rackspace set up a flight to San Antonio for me then cancelled it the evening before after their lawyers waved them off me due to my background (discussed above). A couple months later Rackspace cold called me to work there. It's a usual thing, I think, and I don't hold it against them.
- numbsafari 13y ago
  I get that, from your perspective, this is a forgivable thing. But if I'm Google or Rackspace, and I'm reading about this process from your side, I have to be asking myself "why am I paying these clowns?" Hiring is one of the most important things companies do. If they are this disorganized, and if their cultural commitment to hiring is so poor that people are regularly brought in and interviewers are not present or available or confused about why either of you are there, then there is a huge amount of waste going on and there's a huge amount of missed opportunities. I don't know you, but let's assume you are really good at what you do (and going by the number of people you had recommending you, you're probably pretty good at what you do). The fact of the matter is that Google totally missed the boat here and burned a lot of extra money in the process. Beyond that, for the two years or so that they were jerking around, you could have been a part of the team, making solid contributions. Instead, you were elsewhere making solid contributions that they may have had to defend against. So, the real waste is in the opportunity cost. What I'm getting at is, if I'm a senior executive at one of these companies, I have to be looking at my hiring process and going "WTF?". Because that's what it deserves. Something is seriously broken and it is potentially a strategic threat.

r00fus 13y ago

As someone who's had to conduct some interviews, that's the opposite of my reaction. If I show up to an interview slot (for which I'm spending my 15-30m), and the candidate speaks up about a mis-scheduling or whatever, and convinces me it's not worth our time to meet, I'll be happy to regain my time and complain to the HRbot/hiring manager about scheduling issues (aka please don't waste the my/company's time by messing up the scheduling).

hippee-lee 13y ago

Ah, but you don't have to just walk out telling them they wasted your time. It only talkes a moment to check you muted phone and'OMG - there is an emergency at home/with my child/spouse etc. So very sorry but you have to leave right now to take care of it. Hopefully they understand and can reschedule after the emergency is taken care of." End of story and if you catch them early enough in the interview you can be back at work happily coding the latest story in current sprint. You should do what's best for you but understand why the folks on here are defending google; it's a big place and they are mostly powerless when it comes to direct influence or manipulation. Understand that and it will give you insight into how to hack their system for your benefit both before you are hired there AND after multiple interviews when you find that right team when but need to deal with ingrained systems; which rules must be followed and which rules everyone ignores, when to ask for forgiveness later and when and how to cover your ass from the start.