I was referred to a company by a previous colleague of mine. I sent in my CV, went through a few screenings and finally spoke with the hiring manager. They were very impressed up until they asked what my compensation expectations were. Considering my many years of experience with the exact stack they were hiring for, I shared my expectations (which were on the low end for that kind of position). Their tone IMMEDIATELY changed to very condescending and rude. "ahem well for someone of your...'experience'...you would be making a lot less than that", was the first thing out of their mouth. After a bit of a back and forth, they wanted to have an in-person interview.
I should have declined, but I thought by showing what I know I could change their mind. The interview was 5-6 people each asking me varying levels of whiteboarding questions. That said, all of the employees that interviewed me were nice!
Then came the hiring manager, the same one I spoke with over the phone. They asked me several standard questions and then said they would reach out with an answer after speaking with the team.
I got back to my car, and about 2 minutes after leaving the building I got an email telling me that I didn't get the position. At the time, I was frustrated that my time was wasted. But that was several years ago, so now it's a funny cautionary tale! I dodged a huge bullet. I would have been miserable working with that manager. They were obviously being petty, childish, and just looking to bump their interview quota.
Takeaways:
Red flag #0: "our staff intentionally take a lower wage, because they like working here" (yes, the manager actually said that to me 🤮)
Red flag #1: being told what I'm worth (it speaks to their inability to bring in or maintain good talent)
Red flag #2: the interviews with the team were entirely whiteboarding questions (especially ones that weren't even remotely related to the work I was supposedly being hired for)
Red flag #3: everyone but the manager was dressed business-casual (their personal presentation matched their unprofessional behavior, so at least they were consistent)
Oh jeez...
I was referred to a company by a previous colleague of mine. I sent in my CV, went through a few screenings and finally spoke with the hiring manager. They were very impressed up until they asked what my compensation expectations were. Considering my many years of experience with the exact stack they were hiring for, I shared my expectations (which were on the low end for that kind of position). Their tone IMMEDIATELY changed to very condescending and rude. "ahem well for someone of your...'experience'...you would be making a lot less than that", was the first thing out of their mouth. After a bit of a back and forth, they wanted to have an in-person interview.
I should have declined, but I thought by showing what I know I could change their mind. The interview was 5-6 people each asking me varying levels of whiteboarding questions. That said, all of the employees that interviewed me were nice!
Then came the hiring manager, the same one I spoke with over the phone. They asked me several standard questions and then said they would reach out with an answer after speaking with the team.
I got back to my car, and about 2 minutes after leaving the building I got an email telling me that I didn't get the position. At the time, I was frustrated that my time was wasted. But that was several years ago, so now it's a funny cautionary tale! I dodged a huge bullet. I would have been miserable working with that manager. They were obviously being petty, childish, and just looking to bump their interview quota.
Takeaways:
If I went to a company and everyone was dressed in anything more than business-casual I wouldn't want to work there.
But a lot of my experience is West Coast, and I'm not applying to law firms.