Sorry, Who are You Again?

Jun 19

I’ve been applying for a few jobs recently. It’s the usual mess of hope followed by crushing rejection.

So, when last week I got an email from an employer with whom I’d had a technical interview, I was braced for a rejection.

It’s a pity it wasn’t.

When a Week Passes It’s Bad News

It had been around a week since my interview. They got me to write a simple struct for storing data and ordering it, and I managed to get through the whole challenge (with tests). The interviewers only asked softball questions, we finished the challenge early and I fully expected to be asked back for the next round.

You never know though. So, as I opened the email, I was braced for a rejection or even a polite “We’ll get back to you soon” (to be followed by six months of silence).

It was a survey for my feedback, but I hadn’t even been rejected (yet).

I don’t have a massive problem with this, but I do about the way it was done.

A Full Disrespect

The email read something like this (I’m paraphrasing, but not much):

“Hi,

You are currently interviewing with us. It is important that our candidates have the best possible experience, and to make this happen, we’re constantly eager to improve it.

This feedback is for: [Job Title Field]

We want to improve our candidate experience and would be grateful if you filled out our really short (1 minute) survey to anonymously share your experience of our interview process.

Thank you!

I read that as: We don’t know your name or the role you applied for. Sorry about that. But your feedback is valuable!

Don’t Do This

I’m kind of glad they can’t be bothered addressing me with my name. It’s not personal, they don’t know the job to which I applied either.

It’s sloppy. In such a way that they can’t be trusted with my personal data at all. I’m sure they love talking internally about their interview funnels and conversion rates and forgot that they put humans inside both of these.

They’ve dehumanized me for the sake of a quick to create email. Because here we are, 8 days after the interview and I still haven’t been rejected.

I haven’t received my feedback, and whether it takes 1 minute to fill out their form or not, I think it takes less time to fill out a pro forma email and tell me “no”.

Let’s recap: I had a recruiter call, an engineering manager call, and a technical interview. I’ve given you hours of my life and scheduled calls across time zones. And a week later, I get a no-name, no-role feedback request. No update. Just a form. And silence.

Here’s my Feedback

I’ve thought about leaving feedback on their form and mentioning that it might be nice to give me feedback before asking for mine.

Well, they want to know if their process is working.

Here’s your answer. I don’t know if I’m still in the process. I have no idea what is going on. That’s the process feedback you’re looking for, right?

My Take

I’ve worked in places that treated candidates to eight interviews. I’ve also worked in places that thought a “We’ll be in touch about next steps” was a nice way of saying “Please stop contacting us” and then nothing happens.

This one is (I guess) just an attempt at automation. I’m pretty sure I passed the interview, but I’m on a conveyor belt of candidates. If someone gets an offer before I get to the front, I’ll be rejected like last week’s dinner.

It’s just a bit rich to be in stasis like this and asked for feedback when it suits them. It’s just a bit weird to do it mid-process anyway.

Conclusion

I think this is a candidate centric interview process. They care about my opinion; it’s just a shame they don’t care about my name.

As I finish this article a couple days later, I see the company has written again. The same email.

I mean, why? Just why. Bin me already.

The Secret Developer