8 ms·

Ask HN: Is this interview style common?

Has anyone else faced interviewers like these? To give more context, a recruiter approached me for a financial company in NYC. After I agreed to talk to them, he sent my CV over to them. In the initial phone call,the person calling me gave me a 30 sec introduction about himself. Next he fires his favorite programming question. When I tried to explain, instead of working with me, he kept saying wrong, wrong, wrong. After that, asked me about kMeans Clustering. Again, wrong wrong wrong. 10 min into the phone call, he stopped me and said you are not a good fit, good luck with your search and hung up. I have a PhD in CS, have published in top conferences in my area and have been in industry for about 3 years now. Haven't experienced anything like this before, but that is only one data point. Is this experience common? How do you respond to this?

leekh 11y ago
I just walk away. It sucks and reflects poorly on them. I would say it's more common then people assume. But this is not really a reflection on you.
soham 11y ago
Not common. Sounds like the interviewer lacks basic human courtesy.
greenyoda 11y ago
"How do you respond to this?" Enjoy the sense of relief that you won't be working for this guy, and move on.
- marklarisunique 11y ago
  Thanks. I sent an email to the recruiter basically saying the same thing. Considering, how recruiters typically work, don't think he cares.
  - joezydeco 11y ago
    You're right, he doesn't care. But his boss might. See if you can find him and send a nice message saying if their firm ever calls again you're hanging up, and warning others away as well.
davismwfl 11y ago
No, it isn't common and screams volumes about the individual and organization that employs him. Ignore, and walk away. I was working with a mid-sized business and doing interviews to hire people into the team a number of years back. One of their dev leads had phone screened a candidate, decided he was worth bringing on-site for an interview. Had the guy come on-site (the candidate drove 2 hours to get there), we all sat down and because the candidate was nervous he totally flubbed the first 2 questions. To be totally honest I am not sure he understood one of them as I was even questioning what was asked. This dev lead stood up and said thanks but you are not a good fit, bye and walked out of the room, not even showing the candidate out. I was dumb founded and shocked, I had never seen something so unprofessional. Worse yet, I had worked once before with the candidate so he turned to me and said wtf, is he serious? I had a top recruiter I knew call me the next day and ask if it was true (not sure exactly how he heard so fast), I confirmed that it was indeed true. He stopped doing all business with all divisions of the company that week and would tell candidates about that experience, steering them to other employers. I asked him why he would do that and he said if he sent a candidate into that situation it would be irresponsible and would destroy his reputation. And placing a few candidates there a year wasn't worth it as plenty of alternatives were available. Ironically, I also stopped working directly with that company shortly after that experience as the fact that the management did nothing about it spoke volumes to how they felt about their employees and contractors. That dev lead left the company sometime after I did and that situation has followed him as while I don't speak with him or work with him I have heard recruiters and applicants alike all say they refuse to interview in his division where he is now because of what they have heard. Ironically, he went into financial services, although I doubt that is a correlation. To be totally honest, the guy is pretty damn smart and good at what he does, but that doesn't excuse being an ass.
- marklarisunique 11y ago
  Pretty sure not the same person as this guy said he was a a professor at some university in CS. That might explain why the recruiter called and asked for my exact GPA during PhD. Not to bad mouth all recruiters, but I have noticed they tend to hide information about the personality of the person interviewing you as well as the group. The only place where you can get some information about this stuff is glassdoor.
waterlesscloud 11y ago
Sounds like he didn't want to hire you for some unknown reason, but he still had to check off that he "interviewed" you.
- giaour 11y ago
  This would be my impression. He might have had a specific candidate in mind when he created the job req and now has to disqualify everybody else who applied.
purans 11y ago
Good for you that you don't have to work with him now!! NO it's not common.
RogerL 11y ago
I'm going to differ from the other answers - I found this technique pretty common when talking to the HFT people. Lots of pet questions with extraordinarily specific answers expected. Example: implement the boost smart pointer on the board. I wrote something, started expounding on design choices and their implications, the guy cuts me off with "I said boost's implementation. Well, I didn't write the boost implementation, so that was a no go. Bullet dodged, imo. (actually bombed out during another question, some kind of loop detection algorithm. I got the answer, he claimed it was wrong, it just wasn't his way. I googled it afterwards to make sure I wasn't wrong.) There is a ton of high competition practice for the interview type stuff going on in that field, I believe. I kept far away from the field, so I don't have a lot of data points, and may be very wrong. But this is corroborated by the book Flash Boys - the interview techniques in that books were pretty much what I was subjected to.
- marklarisunique 11y ago
  Good to know. I am going to look at the book Flash Boys. Thank you.
nnoitra 11y ago
I would have thanked them for the opportunity and move on, imagine how they'd treat you if you actually got the job.
gaius 11y ago
Pity the poor schmuck he does hire. You dodged a bullet.
JSeymourATL 11y ago
> Is this experience common? How do you respond to this? It's shocking to encounter inept, inexperienced, socially repulsive corporate executives who think they can magically screen-out candidates in :60 seconds. Uncommon, but not unheard of. Why do some companies seem to attract talent, while others struggle? May I submit that good leadership attracts good talent. You dodged a bullet with these bozos. Currently, it's a buyers market for your skill set. You have MORE power than you think. Next time, take control of the conversation-- lead with probing questions important to you. If they're serious, you'll enjoy a good two-way dialog.
- marklarisunique 11y ago
  Thanks. Those are the interviews I like. But I this case, I didn't get a chance.
pvaldes 11y ago
Sounds more like a competitor for the same place making sure to keep you away. Maybe your name were dropped as possible candidate and he wants you out of the game having another candidate in mind. Maybe somebody was trying to call you in those 10 minutes.... who knows.
liquidcool 11y ago
Beware the fake job requisition. They say never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence, but many people really want to hire their friends, and HR policies force them to do a full search to help prevent that. What often happens is a poor experience for everyone but the intended hire, which simply damages the company's reputation.
anon3_ 11y ago
Can you give the name of the company? I'd personally like to save my time and not apply. I've applied for financial firms and dealt with very polite attitudes from interviewers - and just jealous, spiteful ones. Keep firing out resumes. This is a numbers game!

leekh 11y ago

I just walk away. It sucks and reflects poorly on them. I would say it's more common then people assume. But this is not really a reflection on you.

soham 11y ago

Not common. Sounds like the interviewer lacks basic human courtesy.

greenyoda 11y ago

"How do you respond to this?" Enjoy the sense of relief that you won't be working for this guy, and move on.

marklarisunique 11y ago
Thanks. I sent an email to the recruiter basically saying the same thing. Considering, how recruiters typically work, don't think he cares.
- joezydeco 11y ago
  You're right, he doesn't care. But his boss might. See if you can find him and send a nice message saying if their firm ever calls again you're hanging up, and warning others away as well.

davismwfl 11y ago

No, it isn't common and screams volumes about the individual and organization that employs him. Ignore, and walk away. I was working with a mid-sized business and doing interviews to hire people into the team a number of years back. One of their dev leads had phone screened a candidate, decided he was worth bringing on-site for an interview. Had the guy come on-site (the candidate drove 2 hours to get there), we all sat down and because the candidate was nervous he totally flubbed the first 2 questions. To be totally honest I am not sure he understood one of them as I was even questioning what was asked. This dev lead stood up and said thanks but you are not a good fit, bye and walked out of the room, not even showing the candidate out. I was dumb founded and shocked, I had never seen something so unprofessional. Worse yet, I had worked once before with the candidate so he turned to me and said wtf, is he serious? I had a top recruiter I knew call me the next day and ask if it was true (not sure exactly how he heard so fast), I confirmed that it was indeed true. He stopped doing all business with all divisions of the company that week and would tell candidates about that experience, steering them to other employers. I asked him why he would do that and he said if he sent a candidate into that situation it would be irresponsible and would destroy his reputation. And placing a few candidates there a year wasn't worth it as plenty of alternatives were available. Ironically, I also stopped working directly with that company shortly after that experience as the fact that the management did nothing about it spoke volumes to how they felt about their employees and contractors. That dev lead left the company sometime after I did and that situation has followed him as while I don't speak with him or work with him I have heard recruiters and applicants alike all say they refuse to interview in his division where he is now because of what they have heard. Ironically, he went into financial services, although I doubt that is a correlation. To be totally honest, the guy is pretty damn smart and good at what he does, but that doesn't excuse being an ass.

marklarisunique 11y ago
Pretty sure not the same person as this guy said he was a a professor at some university in CS. That might explain why the recruiter called and asked for my exact GPA during PhD. Not to bad mouth all recruiters, but I have noticed they tend to hide information about the personality of the person interviewing you as well as the group. The only place where you can get some information about this stuff is glassdoor.

waterlesscloud 11y ago

Sounds like he didn't want to hire you for some unknown reason, but he still had to check off that he "interviewed" you.

giaour 11y ago
This would be my impression. He might have had a specific candidate in mind when he created the job req and now has to disqualify everybody else who applied.

purans 11y ago

Good for you that you don't have to work with him now!! NO it's not common.

RogerL 11y ago

I'm going to differ from the other answers - I found this technique pretty common when talking to the HFT people. Lots of pet questions with extraordinarily specific answers expected. Example: implement the boost smart pointer on the board. I wrote something, started expounding on design choices and their implications, the guy cuts me off with "I said boost's implementation. Well, I didn't write the boost implementation, so that was a no go. Bullet dodged, imo. (actually bombed out during another question, some kind of loop detection algorithm. I got the answer, he claimed it was wrong, it just wasn't his way. I googled it afterwards to make sure I wasn't wrong.) There is a ton of high competition practice for the interview type stuff going on in that field, I believe. I kept far away from the field, so I don't have a lot of data points, and may be very wrong. But this is corroborated by the book Flash Boys - the interview techniques in that books were pretty much what I was subjected to.

marklarisunique 11y ago
Good to know. I am going to look at the book Flash Boys. Thank you.

nnoitra 11y ago

I would have thanked them for the opportunity and move on, imagine how they'd treat you if you actually got the job.

gaius 11y ago

Pity the poor schmuck he does hire. You dodged a bullet.

JSeymourATL 11y ago

> Is this experience common? How do you respond to this? It's shocking to encounter inept, inexperienced, socially repulsive corporate executives who think they can magically screen-out candidates in :60 seconds. Uncommon, but not unheard of. Why do some companies seem to attract talent, while others struggle? May I submit that good leadership attracts good talent. You dodged a bullet with these bozos. Currently, it's a buyers market for your skill set. You have MORE power than you think. Next time, take control of the conversation-- lead with probing questions important to you. If they're serious, you'll enjoy a good two-way dialog.

marklarisunique 11y ago
Thanks. Those are the interviews I like. But I this case, I didn't get a chance.

pvaldes 11y ago

Sounds more like a competitor for the same place making sure to keep you away. Maybe your name were dropped as possible candidate and he wants you out of the game having another candidate in mind. Maybe somebody was trying to call you in those 10 minutes.... who knows.

liquidcool 11y ago

Beware the fake job requisition. They say never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence, but many people really want to hire their friends, and HR policies force them to do a full search to help prevent that. What often happens is a poor experience for everyone but the intended hire, which simply damages the company's reputation.

anon3_ 11y ago

Can you give the name of the company? I'd personally like to save my time and not apply. I've applied for financial firms and dealt with very polite attitudes from interviewers - and just jealous, spiteful ones. Keep firing out resumes. This is a numbers game!