3 ms·

Okay since there appear to be people here who know what they are talking about may I ask a question about what happened to me? At the end of my Microsoft Inter

by Danieru 12y ago

Okay since there appear to be people here who know what they are talking about may I ask a question about what happened to me? At the end of my Microsoft Internship I got an offer, this triggered a Google recruiter to contact me and do a phone screener. I'm not sure how well I did on the interview but when I mentioned I had decided not to take the Microsoft offer the recruiter said they wanted to push any next stage stuff back a couple months (4-5 months), they mentioned December. That was fine by me. In fact I was still fine in November / December because I was trying to interview at Mozilla and was working on making a contribution in support of that. Mozilla hit their hiring cap just after I got the patch accepted. So now I'm curious what happened to the recruiter? Was the sudden change in tone when I said I wasn't accepting the offer the recruiter worrying I had lied on my blog? Was she serious about moving any later interviews until closer to graduation, and maybe just left the company?

GuiA 12y ago
When negotiating (and interviewing for a job is a negotiation), never give more information than you have to. In your case, no one but the recruiter (and other people on the hiring committee) know why you were really rejected; but what's certain is that telling her that you decided to not take the offer certainly didn't help you. However, saying something like: "Microsoft's offer is really enticing, and I'm thinking very hard about it. That being said I've heard so many great things about Google, and I'd love to work there. Microsoft wants my decision by <end of month, end of next week, whatever>- do you think we could go through the interviews before then?". That alone wouldn't have gotten you an offer, but it would have made you a slightly more desirable target.
- Danieru 12y ago
  Thanks Gui, those are good points I'll take to heart.
  - GuiA 12y ago
    Keep in mind that interviewing is ultimately a human thing, and thus never perfect or rational (even though everyone would like to think their hiring process is flawless and as logical and unbiased as can be). Prepare as much as you can, go in with your best attitude, etc.- but at the end of the day, interviews can result into a negative answer for something completely out of your control. Maybe you remind one of the interviewers of their ex-boyfriend, or they don't like your voice on the phone, or they've never used framework X but the guy they just fired was really into X and you put X as the first thing on your resume, etc. etc. etc. Don't get discouraged- it's part of the game. I am starting next week at $(big large company where I've wanted to work since I've been a teenager), and that was after 6+ months of interviewing, talking to about as many teams, and hearing "we think we'd be really great at $company but the team you've just interviewed with isn't the right team for you" every time. Funny thing, the position I ended up getting is beyond what I could have dreamed of 6 months ago, and far more interesting+challenging than any of the other teams I interviewed with there. There's also nothing wrong with working at a company for a year or two with the sole intention of getting better so you can re-interview with the company of your dreams. Work hard, keep your long term goals in mind, and good luck :)

by Danieru 12y ago

GuiA 12y ago

When negotiating (and interviewing for a job is a negotiation), never give more information than you have to. In your case, no one but the recruiter (and other people on the hiring committee) know why you were really rejected; but what's certain is that telling her that you decided to not take the offer certainly didn't help you. However, saying something like: "Microsoft's offer is really enticing, and I'm thinking very hard about it. That being said I've heard so many great things about Google, and I'd love to work there. Microsoft wants my decision by <end of month, end of next week, whatever>- do you think we could go through the interviews before then?". That alone wouldn't have gotten you an offer, but it would have made you a slightly more desirable target.

Danieru 12y ago
Thanks Gui, those are good points I'll take to heart.
- GuiA 12y ago
  Keep in mind that interviewing is ultimately a human thing, and thus never perfect or rational (even though everyone would like to think their hiring process is flawless and as logical and unbiased as can be). Prepare as much as you can, go in with your best attitude, etc.- but at the end of the day, interviews can result into a negative answer for something completely out of your control. Maybe you remind one of the interviewers of their ex-boyfriend, or they don't like your voice on the phone, or they've never used framework X but the guy they just fired was really into X and you put X as the first thing on your resume, etc. etc. etc. Don't get discouraged- it's part of the game. I am starting next week at $(big large company where I've wanted to work since I've been a teenager), and that was after 6+ months of interviewing, talking to about as many teams, and hearing "we think we'd be really great at $company but the team you've just interviewed with isn't the right team for you" every time. Funny thing, the position I ended up getting is beyond what I could have dreamed of 6 months ago, and far more interesting+challenging than any of the other teams I interviewed with there. There's also nothing wrong with working at a company for a year or two with the sole intention of getting better so you can re-interview with the company of your dreams. Work hard, keep your long term goals in mind, and good luck :)