Interviewer Vs. Interviewee Perspective

In this article, I am going to talk about two different lenses through which a job interview can be seen as being equally valid perspectives. In doing so, my aim is to initiate an authentic conversation between the two sides, inviting them both to find a healthy middle ground.?

Perspective #1: Interviewer’s Experience

Here is a conversation that happened between myself (Product Manager) and my boss after I finished interviewing and hiring a candidate in a junior role at my company.

Me: Bob has accepted our offer. He requests a 4-week break before joining our team.

Boss: We need to fill this role quickly. Do you want to look at other potential candidates in the meantime?

Me: We have other candidates lined up as well. But I would like to wait for Bob. Based on his performance, he will be an excellent addition to our team. He has to give a 2-week notice at his current job and post that he requests a few personal days before joining us. This seems like a pretty fair request to me.

Boss: It's your decision. I would like you to offload some of your current projects to him.

Me: I am so excited that he accepted our offer. He brings in such a great product experience and will deliver quality products for our company. After weeks of interviewing, we found the right person for the role. Our business is going to be so happy that we are showing commitment to our products. And he is going to take some workload off my plate, so we can get more products.

Boss: I am glad you are adding the right person to our product team. Let us continue building a great organization!

Four weeks later, Bob sends an email declining the job offer at our company, as he has got a better offer from another place. ?

Isn’t it unprofessional on the candidate’s part to decline the offer after keeping a company waiting for four weeks?

Reflection: It is acceptable for a potential candidate to decline a job within the offer period specified by the company. However, it is unprofessional to decline after four weeks (or just a day before the joining date). By this point, the company has completed the necessary onboarding requirements from its end, such as ordering laptop for the candidate, setting up a company email and login, ordering a badge and swag. Although I understand having multiple offers and choosing something that fits one's passion, the sooner a candidate communicates their decision to the company, the easier it is for the company to look for other candidates. From the hiring manager’s perspective this problem is what I call it the ominous "Job Karma" of today’s workplace.

Perspective #2: Interviewee’s Experience

Preparing for a job interview is tricky. Interviewees have to understand the domain, keep up with latest news updates about the company, upskill themselves with the latest technological tools, take out time from their current job and prepare for an interview for a new position. They need to:

• Polish their interview skills, which is very different from developing work skills.
• Be sharp and clear during the interview by following a STAR methodology for their projects.
• Get ready to dig deep into their past work projects.
• Be prepared to write assignments.
• Be ready to code on the spot.
• Be prepared to design a product on the go.
• Make a group presentation on a given topic.
• Talk to C-level Executives and be prepared to solve a case interview.
• This is only the beginning. In addition, they need to be ready for,
• Multiple rounds of interview.
• Responding to a recruiter’s call in a timely manner.
• Get on an initial phone interview with a team member or hiring manager.
• Follow up the initial phone interview with a secondary one, if needed.
• A full-day interview with a 5–7-member team from the Company.
• A C-level Executive interview and,
• A final Human Resource (HR) interview.

After these multiple rounds of interviews, the company goes silent on the candidate – no calls, no emails, no text messages. Just complete silence. Has anyone encountered this situation? Yes, sadly, this is a common phenomenon.

Reflection: If a company is not happy with a candidate’s performance, they should immediately let the candidate know, so they can move forward to seek the next opportunity. Respecting the interviewee’s time is important. Despite having multiple candidates lined up, it is the ethical duty of a company to communicate their decision swiftly to a candidate who has put in so much time and energy into showing up for a long-drawn interview process. It reflects poorly on the company’s culture if it fails to do so. For a rejected candidate, the process of job search has to begin afresh. They need to self-reflect on their shortcomings and draw the necessary strength to go back to the drawing board, without losing their morale. ?Sometimes a candidate perceives an interview process to have gone well, whereas the company sees it differently. In such a situation, how can the candidate know what was lacking in their performance and where they should improve it? This is a topic for another article.

However, in summary, there is a dialogue missing between the experience of the interviewer and interviewee that needs to be called out and discussed in the open. As a hiring manager, we need to put better practices in place for the recruiting managers to communicate with their candidates at the earliest. And as interviewees, it is a demonstration of our integrity to share our change in decision-making with the company at the earliest, once an offer has been made and accepted.

With little effort from both sides, we can create a more humane "Job Market" for everyone.?