A job candidate shared the story of an interview gone wrong on the Reddit sub r/jobsearchhack. Under the account name Successful-Stand6699, they shared how one frustrating hiring manager made them end the entire interview process early. The post has 3.4 thousand up votes and 380 comments, starting an interesting conversation about job interviews.
“I just ended a video interview for the second round with an insurance company, even though the hiring manager liked my background during the first call. The first two interviewers were friendly and well-prepared. Then the last interviewer joined the interview, barely said hello, and immediately started going through my CV looking for anything to criticize,” they wrote.
They claimed this manager believed they didn’t have enough experience, asking how they would be a good fit for the role. They explained that they had a background in marketing, which would be perfect for the position. She wasn’t impressed, and continued to try to find reasons not to hire them during the interview.
“At that point, I told her, "It's clear that you don't like any of my answers, so let's stop here instead of wasting each other's time." Her tone suddenly softened, and she said that they were still interested but needed to understand my strengths. I told her that I wasn't interested in joining a team that treated candidates this way, thanked the other interviewers, and ended the call before anyone else could say anything,” they wrote. They wondered if they should have been more polite, but commenters were on their side.
Reddit Users Shared Different Perspectives on the Interview
Some commenters agreed with the candidate’s decision to end the interview.
“I would have loved to be the fly on the wall after that call. From going to having a good candidate to hire to having absolutely NOTHING due to one person who wasn't even asking appropriate questions for the job,” one Reddit user wrote.
Another commenter shared a similar experience involving multiple rounds of interviews. They said the company changed the responsibilities of the position during the process and later became pushy about contacting their current employer for a reference.
Not everyone viewed the interview as unusual. One commenter, who identified themselves as a senior IT manager, said that questioning a candidate’s experience and cultural fit can be a normal part of the hiring process, particularly for senior positions. “It's frustrating though not uncommon in my experience,” they wrote.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the details of the candidate’s experience, which are based solely on their account shared on Reddit. The poster did not identify the company or hiring manager involved.
