Comment by bedast | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bedast | Hacker News Reader

The first thing you need to understand is the interview process goes both ways. They're not just trying to figure out if you have the skills to do the job and figure out if you're a good fit for the team, you should also be figuring out if the company is a good fit. Usually you have to pick out context clues to figure out if the company culture is going to be a fit, and if you don't, you ask those questions and gauge their answers.

When they directly insult you during the interview, that should be the end. If you're willing to tolerate abuse during the interview process, you should expect the culture to persist and you advertise that you're okay with it.

Respect of my time and the time of those around me is important to me. I had a recruiter that didn't understand this concept. He was representing a major media company that seemed like it'd be interesting to work for. But since the recruiter advertised to me that he couldn't care less about my time, I took that as an ongoing issue at the company and I ended the process.

It's just not worth it, especially when you have other potential opportunities that may still be interesting. Respect is important and if they can't respect you at the interview, they will not respect you in the job.

You are exactly right. When I was younger, all I could think was: I need to impress them! Now I think, this company needs to impress me. If their culture is abusive or even uninspired, I am not joining them. It's hard to find a decent club though sometimes.

To add some personal context, I'm the same where as I get older the company needs to impress me with a good work environment. But not because my resume is better or that I'm financially better off. It's because I've learnt from personal experience that a crappy work environment is not worth tolerating. (Same goes for personal relationships).

And the above is why ageism exists.

Nope. That's simple experience.

One can arrive at that place earlier in life, and will given mentors and a robust set of early experiences.

I was the same way. Interviews were very intimidating. Imposter syndrome didn't help. It took time for me to figure out the power dynamic in this process, and to learn that, as a candidate, I have more power than I previously assumed.

And the crazy thing is, knowing that power dynamic means you can, likely, command more compensation.

It’s unfortunate that most interviewers do not think that the process is two way. The normal interview setup is also very one sided. For a 1 hour session, the interviewer has like 55 min to ask the candidate questions, and leaves only 5 minutes at the end for the candidate to ask them questions.

There should be no need to wait for permission to ask pertinent questions.

The interview process should be a conversation, not an interrogation.

If it isn't, I probably don't want to work there.

As a technical interviewer and team lead, I liked to spend the first half of the interview on technical questions and answers, and maybe some discussion on that, then the second half just having a conversation. I've rejected candidates who were technically sound, but would not be a good fit for the team (they would likely fit in somewhere, and I'd be willing to admit it was a mistake if I just read things wrong or they had a bad day). I also spend some time on who I am, what I expect, etc. This interview style doesn't seem super common, but I feel I've been pretty successful in my recommendations to the hiring manager following this, and the hiring mistakes have been pretty minimal.

I think the worst interview process I've been through is when I did 8 interviews at a company, 6 of which were technical, and then was not hired (overqualified apparently...I'm old enough to start encountering ageism and all that). Such a monumental waste of time.

I will simply ask.

If time comes up, I let them know I have the time needed and would not have asked if I didn't.

Do they have the time needed? If not, why?

Answers to that can make sense and can bias the session toward a more productive exchange.

I agree 100% with your statement. I see a job interviews as dating. It has to work both ways, you will be spending most of your day with them, you need to determine what you expect from them and what negative behaviors you are willing to compromise based on your needs.

For whatever reason, companies do not think this way. I usually get the rude comments with the 'we passed on you' email or voicemail.

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