After a phone screening interview, they invited me to a MS Teams interview. There were 5 interviewers, but they still failed to introduce the company, the team and the position. They started asking me questions right away, and the whole vibe was not too friendly – I felt like I'm being interrogated rather than interviewed. Most of the questions were about how I handle difficult managers/colleagues/clients and high workload – zero efforts to "sell themselves to me". After 50 minutes of answering questions, I had the chance to ask, and that's when I could ask a bit about the team and the role – and as a former recruiter, let me tell you: this is not something the candidate has to ask at the very end of the interview because they were given zero information! This was the only round, and the topic of benefits didn't even come up.
What their attitude showed was that they don't think of the candidate as an equal partner, and the interview as a chance to impress me and convince me that I actually want to work there – as if I can't say no to them because I'm the unemployed, ergo desperate one.
I'm sorry but it's 2025, and it's time to leave this very archaic mindset of "WE are the Mighty Employer, and any candidate should feel honoured that we might give them a chance" behind because the only thing I learned from this experience that I can't be desperate enough to accept an offer from such a workplace.
