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Dork457 posted:Should I even bother with tech recruiters? Multiple firms have pointed me at a single listing that I unceremoniously received a rejection letter from on new years. If I don't even know where I'm being applied to and when would I be better off just going on by myself? I don’t bother with them myself after humouring them in the past to the point of coming into their offices to meet with them. All I got out of that was some substandard coffee. The turnover rate for recruiting firms is so high the person you’re talking to in January probably won’t be with the company by June and will be out of the industry altogether by December. So there’s really no point to “building a relationship” or whatever other nonsense they say. I’ve been working in the tech industry for almost 20 years now across several jobs and I have gotten a meaningful interview only once through a third party recruiter (all over the phone for that one). Everything else was mostly through contacts or tracking down the actual hiring manager through other means to get the resume to him directly. Tl;dr: third party recruiters are a useless time suck imo
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Jan 2, 2020 18:51
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Yeah I’m sure there are good ones I’m probably being too harsh tbh
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Jan 2, 2020 19:02
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On the bright side hopefully working from home becomes more of an option for people whose job translates ok to that. My company has been very resistant to it up until the silicon valley offices got shut down by the government. WFH has its downsides too of course but having it as an option is nice.
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Mar 17, 2020 21:00
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I’ve been listening in to a few interviews my team member has been doing of mostly new grads and being able to show a curiosity and ability to go beyond the knowledge of basic tasks is actually fairly rare in the engineering candidates we have been interviewing. If you have no idea about something even just talking through how you would get up to speed on it (research, questions to ask people, trying stuff out and learning) is a huge plus. We have had a lot of people just say they don’t know something and that’s it. We don’t expect new grads to know everything, but being able to see an interest in learning is great and can spur some good followup questions. It just sucks the air out of the interview if a candidate just answers “no, I don’t know about that” and it’s weird to see it. Having a github project or two you can pull out and demo or whatever is also really nice. Even if it is not related at all to what you’re applying for it shows some passion for coding and being able to come up with your own ideas what to do. It’s something you’ll be fully comfortable talking about and can really be enjoyable for interviewers to go over too!
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May 16, 2020 19:57
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Krispy Wafer posted:I've taken courses on Excel as part of PLU's (professional learning units) to keep my teaching cert active. It was a decent experience. I didn't go for the PowerPoint class because LOL who needs a class to do PowerPoint and also people who are experts in PowerPoint are insufferable. Each page transition animation different from the last!
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May 23, 2020 18:56
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It really should be an unspoken rule that everyone should be available for a new opportunity if one comes along that is a better situation than the one you’re at. Employers expecting blind loyalty is laughable, but sadly how it is in a lot of cases. Be professional and do your work where you’re at but be ready to jump if a better option comes along. Very much preferably without burning any bridges, of course.
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Jun 15, 2020 17:46
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I’ve been doing interviews for a junior engineer position and it has been interesting and I am getting more of a handle on it. Are there any useful resources anyone can recommend beyond this thread? I’ll check the OP for links too. One thing I will say is: if you put a school project on your resume please be able to answer fairly in depth questions on it. It’s really disappointing when they have an interesting project but can’t get into any nitty gritty of it especially when it is the part they claim to be responsible for. Pretty much instant turn off of a candidate for me. Myself and another senior guy are kind of the first pass gatekeepers before our manager talks to candidates. We’ll be the ones supervising them so it’s good to be involved in the process.
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Aug 12, 2020 21:35
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Lockback posted:This is good instincts on your part. You know when you used to do group projects and one guy would do basically nothing? That's who answers poorly on that. I strongly prefer "Let's talk about some things you built" over "Here's a leetcode problem, you have 40 minutes to solve it". For developer types I've switched over entirely to walking through their own code. Yeah that’s exactly it, separating the folks who skate by in school being in a good group or just getting the bare minimum from those who are curious and will investigate things. My style is more conversational vs quizzing and it really helps me get a feel whether it’s someone who I would want to rely on to get things done or not. I used to be the biggest drat slacker in university and my first few coop terms so I know what to look for. The folks who had a similar epiphany to me are my personal favourites to work with because they are usually more laid back and less arrogant while also realizing they gotta put in some work to get results. Anyway it has been good doing these interviews as a pair so we can discuss candidates, most of the time everything aligns well.
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Aug 13, 2020 00:50
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I still believe Netflix is only in there just to make it a non offensive acronym
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Aug 14, 2020 00:53
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Do a lot of companies do the party line where they do not provide work references other than confirming that a person worked there? This got brought in to my work post acquisition and it sounds like it is due to people suing when they felt they got a bad work review that prevented them from getting a job.
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Sep 9, 2020 05:16
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Lockback posted:Yeah most. The other bit is "eligible for rehire" which you're allowed to say since it's your call but you're not supposed to give a reason. So I can say "priznat worked here 5 months, and is not eligible for rehire" but I can't say you took a dump on the copy machine. But dammit that was one of the main bullet points of my work history there!  Do companies confirm salaries too? I've heard it both ways.
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Sep 9, 2020 05:35
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Naw man it was my memo to the management!
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Sep 9, 2020 15:17
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How long before you figure a company has ghosted on getting back to you? I had a couple interview last week and they were extremely positive going as far as talking about what it is I will be working on etc. The last one was Friday afternoon and I was kind of mentally figuring that Tuesday would be when to expect to hear back if I’m getting an offer, or am I being too impatient? I would hope that longer would be better as it would be putting together an offer rather than a “regrettably..” email. The manager did say early on in the process he’d let me know one way or another. I guess I’m just stress stewing because I really want the job so want to get it locked up. 3-4 (working) days should be a reasonable time to get an offer right?
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Jul 13, 2021 23:37
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Ya, that’s a good overview on it. It has only been a couple days I’m just super eager. I did email the interviewers immediately afterwards thanking them for a great discussion and the usual stuff but I would not ping them again about what’s up, that’s definitely bad plan. There will be visa things involved too so I really should expect it to take longer as I think they probably want to go with H1-B vs the easier to get TN-1 (canada -> US). I gotta just chill out! Both interviews went fantastically well so I would be really surprised if I don’t hear anything back, at the least they’d probably want to keep in touch in case another option falls through.
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Jul 13, 2021 23:52
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I got a reply back from the place I interviewed with, the manager and architect liked me so on to talk to more team members. Seems pretty positive though!
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Jul 14, 2021 22:10
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CarForumPoster posted:Noice! I’m stoked! I of course want this to move faster but companies don’t usually do that, and friends pointed out as well that getting me to talk with the team members is a good sign to ensure there is a good culture fit. This is something I’m very confident about, talking to engineers I don’t know about projects we have done is always fun and interesting to me.
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Jul 15, 2021 00:55
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:Had a really great interview for a dream job, a place I wanted to work at as far back as high school. Just a great dynamic between us and felt like I was getting all the questions right. They say they'll get back to me next week. That was 3 weeks ago and I haven't heard a peep. This poo poo fucks me up. It's hard not to want to just give up and stay in my job I hate. I’m in the same boat, waiting to hear back for the 2nd round interviews which are apparently more “team fit” ones with coworkers, first round was manager and lead architect. They did say it would be a few weeks both because of other candidates and summer vacations. It sucks, I hope I hear back this week! (Also that you hear back too)
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Aug 2, 2021 19:20
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I did a “hi still here” follow up 3 weeks after being told that I was going to get a 2nd round and got a call the next day (today) saying I should get an email from the interview scheduler shortly. No idea if it was going to happen at that time frame or if I jogged their memory but it’s nice to have a bit of communication on it anyway. So that’s nice and a good result from doing a friendly, brief check in.
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Aug 5, 2021 16:19
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I was wondering for interviews do people ever do some printed cheat sheet notes to remind them of applicable STAR stories? I was thinking of doing the following: - 1+ sheet split in the middle with requirements from the posting on one side and applicable skills/experience on the other - STAR sheet(s) summarizing various projects or issues overcome (mostly to trigger my memory) (this is reusable for other interviews) - sheet with questions I have for them with space for me to jot down answers. I figure even though the interviews are all either telephone or zoom/teams it is faster to write answers and refer to paper copies of things. Anyone use a similar system? Interested in any tips or suggestions!
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Aug 8, 2021 04:26
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Is it generally considered a good idea to look up interviewers on LinkedIn ahead of time or nah? Also good points about the cheat sheets, in video ones it would be distracting. I would like to have a worksheet that is good for note taking, though. And questions I want to ask. Sometimes I forget to ask pertinent questions because of the flow of the interview.
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Aug 9, 2021 22:52
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CarForumPoster posted:I like to but it’s best not to mention it. But it’s good to see where you all might have overlapping backgrounds. This is a good point, the backgrounds. I don’t like how LinkedIn snitches on you looking at a profile but I guess that’s not a huge deal. If you have the name it just makes sense to do research.
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Aug 10, 2021 01:05
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Yeah I decided to just look em up without hiding, and I think I was overthinking it. It’s useful having a look at the activity and their posts as it can give a good idea what they are into, albeit with some LinkedIn artifice over top. It actually led me to a couple product videos I hadn’t seen before which are gold mines both for technical aspects to get sharp on but also questions to ask. Got interviews with 5 people for the position spaced out over Thursday and Friday, along with another interview Tuesday for a different job which I am treating more as a warmup because I’m not as interested in that one. Busy week!
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Aug 10, 2021 07:08
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Lockback posted:This isn't a big deal. I expect whenever I work with someone new they'll catch me on Linkedin. Yeah I would not do stuff like that saying "sooo you went to so-and-so school eh?" or ask them stuff I learned. However it's useful in knowing what kind of things they would be potentially interested in talking about, etc. People love talking about things they are interested in and then by association whoever asks the right questions have an advantage! quote:This is a magic trick. Watch those videos and learn their preferred terms and language. Using those key words can be a big boon, especially to impress interviewers who aren't paying much attention. For sure, one of my interviewers was even in it presenting, which was pretty useful too. I'll be going over them with a fine tooth comb and writing my questions out based a lot on these videos and their linkedin experience. Apart from that it was interesting seeing what kind of culture is within the group because the senior managers are all pretty active on linkedin and seem like really good folks, especially from an interacting with people perspective. Nice to get a feel for that ahead of time too.
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Aug 10, 2021 18:43
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I’m doing a PowerPoint for my next set of interviews and holy cow it really makes you realize how much stuff you’ve done if you just sit down and go through it all project by project. Very worthwhile if only to get it all straight in your head. I won’t be putting this up to step through but I think it would be useful for some visual aids/diagrams when talking about stuff I’ve done. Especially because it is a virtual interview and no white board etc. Does Teams have the ability to draw diagrams and stuff? Probably would suck rear end compared to a whiteboard.
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Aug 11, 2021 22:59
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TheLastManStanding posted:There is a whiteboard in teams if your org has it enabled (for some reason mine hasn't turned it on). Yeah mine has gotten pretty large now but is also a useful memory jogger too, as I remember things I add it in. I’m planning on using it more as a thing to pull up depending on questions to show a few slides rather than plod through the whole thing. I have a few slides to show problem solving that summarize the problem, steps to debug/fix and result which I think will be very useful for giving enough data without rambling as I am prone to do. Also the notes section on PowerPoint is good to stash details so it seems like you’re just pulling it up from memory. Unrelated, I had an initial screening interview and they want to proceed with a full day of interviews. I’m not really keen on it and would prefer the other job I am doing a 2nd round with tomorrow. Is it better to schedule an interview and cancel if I get my favoured job or just cancel now? I am leaning toward the latter, I don’t really want to burn a full day for a job I’m not interested in. The interview experience can be good though and of course the curiosity factor of what would they offer. I think I’ll let the recruiter know tomorrow that I will pass on 2nd round. There are potentially other jobs at that company I might be interested in so I’d like to not jerk them around either.
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Aug 12, 2021 08:01
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Lockback posted:Cancelling an interview is not a big deal. It's not like going back on an offer. Even doing an interview and basically not being interested in an offer is fine, an interview is not a guarantee you'll take a job. That said, a full day interview is an actual investment. If this was a 90 minute zoom thing I'd urge you to do it anyway even if you don't think there's much chance you'd take it. You never know and its always good practice. But yeah, a whole day is kinda stinky. Eric the Mauve posted:My feeling is that even a full-day interview for a job I don't believe I really want is still worth doing if I can. You never know who you might impress, what future doors you might open for yourself, even if you aren't offered or don't accept the job. It's still a good opportunity to go into it with low pressure and an open mind. Plus interviewing is a skill (a massively valuable skill in financial terms) and opportunities to sharpen it through live practice are always valuable, IMO. Good input, thanks to you both! I have pushed it so the interviews would be at least a week from now so I would know in advance if I have an offer from my first choice, and gives me time to book off. I think Eric is correct, it's good practice and I'm very much out of practice after not doing this for over 8 years. My first choice (and frankly, dream job) interviews 2nd round starts today so fingers crossed I don't blow it horribly. I feel pretty confident with the prep work I've done just refreshing myself on what stuff I've actually done though so I'm not too nervous.
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Aug 12, 2021 17:25
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Had a couple great interviews with members of the team I am interviewing for today and was scheduled to meet with the GM of the larger group and I'm sitting in a teams room just twiddling my thumbs 15 minutes in with no one showing up.. Is this a test?!?
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Aug 14, 2021 00:14
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God drat it, at my 2nd round interviews end of last week they were going super well but the last person who is a GM apparently didn’t get the invite. So I sat in a teams room for a bit while emailing the recruiter about if everything is ok etc. Anyway they want to reschedule me talking to him but he is on vacation this week (leading me to suspect he may have dipped out early on Friday and why they couldn’t round him up). So, the date they are floating is the same day another company has me for a full day interview. I’m going to try to get another day but if it is tough to move I’m going to see if I can move the other company full day. I’m much less interested in the other company, and it feels like I am 90% of the way there and I really just need to talk to this guy to get a blessing. Dammit I was hoping this would all be wrapped up by now, but stuff happens. 
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Aug 16, 2021 17:51
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Yuuuup the 2nd round had already been spaced out from the first round by several weeks probably due to vacations and stuff. Oh well. It does suck being in an unknown zone until whenever they make a decision but just part of the game! One thing I notice when interviewing is how if the interviewer starts smiling more and more and using future terms like “when you are here doing x” it seems like things are going well!
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Aug 16, 2021 20:42
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I am coming up on 2 months of interviews for the job I’m hoping for, it is by far the longest I have spent on getting a job. It is absolutely my dream job in every way though so I’m happy to be patient for it. So far I have talked to: - Internal Recruiter (phone screen) - Hiring manager - architect I would be working for <3 week break in interviews> - project manager - sr manager on another group I would be working with often - 2 engineers on my team I would be working with Each of these were 1 hour Teams interviews other than the recruiter. With the final interview coming up after a reschedule with the general manager. I really hope I have a solid shot at this because it has been a hell of an ordeal. All the interviews went really well and I am very happy on the prep work I’ve done. Having a few good stories about when something did not go to plan and what you did and telling it with a bit of good humour hopefully pays off.
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Aug 18, 2021 02:42
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Chaotic Flame posted:That's absolutely ridiculous from # of interviews to length of process. They're lucky you didn't get two other jobs during this time. It's getting exhausting how long hiring processes have become. Yeah I have one with a different company next week too that is 6 people, one hour each.. I'm not even that interested in that one, ugh. Unrelated what's the view on applying to different jobs at the same company, even when far along in an interview process? The current one I'm interviewing for would be my first choice but an interesting second option popped up just today. Debating just sending in an application for it now or waiting til the other one resolves (but judging by how it is going that could be a ways off). Think I'll do a CL tomorrow and just apply.
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Aug 19, 2021 07:27
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Lockback posted:I think you're too deep in to start tossing around more applications but if you have a recruiter contract maybe call and have a conversation about it? See what they say. I'd really shade it like "I am really interested in this company for blahblahblah". Yeah most likely, I am just worried that the current process will drag on like it has been. After my final interview next Monday I think I'll see how that goes, and let the recruiter know that I am still extremely interested in that job but I am going to send out applications in the meantime if there is going to be a bit of a wait to hear back either way. That'd be about the limit I'd want to put off application. The new position that came up is actually even closer to what I already do but not quite as exciting as the one I am in process with right now, but would also be great. If it was more exciting I would be applying to it right now regardless I think.
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Aug 19, 2021 17:33
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Had an afternoon of interviews and.. I think I kind of like being interviewed? Being able to talk about, at length, stuff you do and have people generally understand it is weird and strange, . I do need some good new stories about what I did when a conflict occurred though because I haven’t had that many. Mostly the conflicts come out of another group trying to get me to do their work for them.
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Aug 25, 2021 01:23
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Finished a couple 2nd round interview loops on Mon/Tues and am just  ing my inbox at this point. Then applied to a couple others just because I like the drama I guess??
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Aug 26, 2021 21:39
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Debating pinging an internal recruiter about what’s going on with the status of my application, it has been a week since my last interview of the 2nd round loop. I know they had other candidates but not how many. At this point I just want to find out one way or the other (entire process has been almost 2 months now). The interviews went really well I felt but it would really be if there was a stronger candidate experience wise and personality fit at this point I would think. Just a quick “hey just checking in, how goes with the process?” Email a good idea at this point?
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Aug 30, 2021 18:07
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CarForumPoster posted:+1 Good call, I do have a couple other applications out and another job interview session that finished the day after this one, so hopefully have some options! Plus overall not desperate to move as current job is stable (just a lot of people are leaving and it is getting a bit worrying)
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Aug 30, 2021 18:45
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Kind of a weird thing, I had interviewed with aws for a HW development job that was basically root causing issues on the systems - something I have had a lot of experience with. It was the STAR interview stuff and I went thru several of the issues I’d dealt with and ensuring to talk about it from the various stages.. They got back to me and they’re not continuing with the process (which is fine) but they wanted me to interview for a software development position, something I have no real experience in doing and have nothing like that on my resume apart from some low level diagnostic and scripting stuff. Is that normal? I said no that’s alright thanks. I had my concerns both with the work I’d be doing not being my thing (it didn’t really line up with the job posting) and the company as a whole so I was really just doing it out of curiosity.
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Aug 31, 2021 23:34
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Is it pretty normal for large companies (FAANG, etc) to have their interview "loop" and if you are not selected for that particular one it carries over to other positions with the company? I just had an incredibly precursory chat with the hiring manager for another job with the same organization and it sounds like they are going to send out an offer and it's weird. I was expecting to get a technical interview and it felt really weird because I was going through some details on what I've done but it seemed very unnecessary. Well we'll see what the offer is like at least.
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Sep 2, 2021 21:15
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Yeah I have an ongoing wait that now my entire process has gone 2 months and may go another one. All the interviews are done, but apparently the team is split a little bit and want someone that has my skill set and another skill set that usually aren’t combined together. I talked with the hiring manager today and he seemed pretty keen on getting me hired but he has to win some people over by showing that the person they think they want doesn’t really exist. I do like how the hiring seems very egalitarian but it does lead to things like this where it gets dragged out wayyyyy long. I do have another offer probably coming in next week but I’m not super keen on it and want to have the best chance of getting this really long interview/selection job. Until I get a definite no I’ll try to string any additional offers as long as I can. Was good to hear feedback from the hiring manager, everyone I talked to liked me but some just wanted more of the other experience too. Actually gave me more of a good feeling about it, weirdly.
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Sep 8, 2021 22:30
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I’m going thru a process that started in June and I got a competing offer this week and let them know which spurred them into getting the group together to make a decision which I’m expecting Friday, so that is one way to get things moving On the one hand I like how democratic it is but on the other building consensus takes forever!
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Sep 16, 2021 23:02
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