Sources and scope
This page collects workplace experiences, questions and discussions submitted by users. Dates shown are submission dates, not periods of employment. Individual reports do not describe the entire company.
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1. When I had just walked into the company, I noticed an employee sleeping at their desk before entering the meeting room. Were they simply not busy, or did they have nothing to do?
2. During the interview, the manager repeatedly mentioned that they were feeling physically unwell. I couldn't tell whether they were trying to express how hard they work or that the company was overworking them.
3. I carefully prepared documents from projects I had previously handled for the interview. I clearly explained at the time that these documents were frequently updated during execution, but the manager kept repeating that these were all the documents produced for the project and questioning why there were so few.
4. When I asked about the company's current development, I was told that it was not taking on new projects. Doesn't that mean the company isn't making money and is surviving on a few maintenance projects?
5. Regardless of who they are, everyone needs time to understand a project's content. The manager stated that the position was looking for someone who could hit the ground running and that there was no time for the new hire to look for old documents. I couldn't believe this came from a manager who had been there for many years. Is the company just throwing people into the deep end and leaving them to fend for themselves?
6. The manager said that every project was rushing to meet the schedules requested by clients. That is strange because it completely contradicts the actual situation described in point 1. If the projects were really so rushed, how could someone be sleeping at their desk?
7. My expected salary was based on the salary from my previous company, but the manager's reaction suggested that I had asked for too much. If it did not meet their expectations, why tell me the salary figures for the probationary period and after three months? The low salary may be related to point 4: maintenance projects simply do not bring in much money.
8. The manager said that they were very difficult to deal with when managing things. Just how difficult are we talking—like a 5,000 cc motorcycle with a red license plate? I should also mention that when I was a team leader in the past, I was extremely difficult to deal with too.
9. The position has been open for more than a year, and they still have not found a suitable candidate. Given the issues above, it is not hard to see why finding someone has been so difficult.
10. My overall impression of the interview was that this is yet another company looking for someone merely to meet its interview KPI quota. I could not feel any reason to want to join the company.
11. Finally, I want to say that companies choose candidates, but job seekers also choose companies. Is emphasizing one's own shortcomings meant to highlight how capable they are, or is there some other purpose?