HR nightmares series: the craziest job interview of my life
How a job interview can go downhill fast because of universal idiocracy and greediness
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Before this interview, I had a short call with the hiring manager. Also, I performed a test, which was assessed at a low level by a team. The last step is the interview with this team.
Like a Fight
The interview has started. Just audio. I see only a black screen and hear a variety of voices, I guess 5 or 6 including HR, director and team.
Crappy.
During the first 2 minutes, they have interrupted me 3 times.
Team: “Could you tell me what tools you use for writing.”
Me: “I use this, this, this and Vim.“
Director: (laughing hysterically) “Vim? Seriously? Are you going to copy text from a command line?”
Me: (trying to be calm) “What the hell does that mean? I use tool which I find effective in my work.“
Team: “Jane, please, do not use these words. He is our director.”
First of all, I was shocked. Then, actually, I do not care about their director. He is not my boss. I have known him for 2 minutes and he has already behaved without a basic level of respect. This is not a quality which a director must have. He is not a true director, he is an offensive wannabe.
Me: (still trying to be calm) “Why should I think about my words if you do not think about yours? Your team has interrupted me 3 times during the last 2 minutes. Do you think it is normal? I could not even finish my words. It is disrespectful.”
Director: “If you were a senior writer I wouldn’t say a word about the tools that you use. But hearing Vim from a junior is a joke”.
Me: “I want to finish this call.”
Team: “Jane, we just have lots of questions and we are not eager to listen to your monologue.”
These are veeeery rude and humiliating.
Dear Candidates, if you feel disrespected in an interview / email messaging, finish the conversation. Do not try to find the truth.
Me: “Let’s stop the conversation. It is very stressful and abnormal.” (I said it politely, however I could press the button “finish call” all the time)
Director: (worried) “Maybe we can talk further?”
Team: (worried) “Yes, we have lots of things to discuss. We are looking for a writer with a linguistic background. Could you tell me about yours?”
Me: “I am sorry, what?”
Companies look for a technical writer either with a technical background or linguistics. I have an Information Security degree, therefore my background is technical.
I did not ask a question about which background a technical writer should have to work in their company. And information about my background is in my resume.
I thought the HR would pay attention to this fact (actually, very important fact) and reject me if I wasn’t a good fit for the position. In my opinion, considering the basics and important vacancy details is an HRs’ responsibility, not mine. I cannot know everything about job descriptions at least because some of them are just poorly-written, and HRs do not know all the details.
Dear HRs, please, read resumes carefully before scheduling the first call especially if you do not know how to write job descriptions. This is a very obvious fact. Why do I need to state this?
Me: “It is very interesting information. And if it is so important for you, why didn’t your HR ask me about education before sending me this test?“
HR: (silence)
Team: (silence)
Director: (silence)
Of course, there is nothing to say when you fucked up.
Me: “Okay. Could you send me feedback about the test?”
HR: “Yes, we will send our feedback to your email today.“
Me: “Great. Bye-Bye”
As you could guess, they did not send me feedback about the test. Not even a word.
Instead, they found me on LinkedIn, and my resume on my web page got more views than it did before this crazy interview.
Final Words
A job interview is not a usual conversation and/or a blah-blah talk. You have to know what questions to ask and how to behave. You cannot talk to a candidate as to your neighbour who recently pricked a tire on your car.
A candidate may not be suitable today for your company but can be suitable tomorrow.
In this case, it was definitely a problem with HR. She asked me kooky questions like “why did you apply to our position?” and other stupid questions about the vacancy. However, she needed to ask about the candidate’s experience and skills.
As far as this company’s communication, this is not a professional way of communication. They are aggressive, foolish and anti-social.
I assume it was their plan to find a middle/senior candidate and hire them as a Junior. In this case, you convince a candidate they have low skills and hire for a low salary. You have a well-done product for small money. It is a dream!
As far as me, I will never apply to their positions again. I felt like I was playing in some unknown for me game. I had enough.
Jane is a Go programmer and technical writer in software engineering. She has been writing technical material for 5 years in both English and Russian. She completed her specialist degree in Information Security from Novosibirsk State Technical University, and specializes in the information security of automated systems. You can follow her on Twitter and see her other written work at publications.enthusiastic.io.
