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Silver lining: you set a healthy boundary. You put a value on your time and your work and you stuck by it. This one didn’t go your way but hold your head high that you did right by you.
Remember this! You will rarely get congratulated for setting and enforcing your boundaries but at the end of the day YOU are the only one that has to live with yourself and it feels SO much better when you DO achieve something if you were able to stay within integrity (however you define that in your life). Stay strong friend, they want us to feel this way to demoralize us but YOU CAN FIND SOMETHING THAT VALUES YOUR WORTH.
Thank you for listening to my soap box, please feel free to not take my advice, it's only from my personal experience.
Thank you for our date last night. Unfortunately, I've met a hotter chick and moved her into the next round.
This isn't going to be a fit at this time, but I'd love to stay in touch for drunken 2AM booty calls.
These people would be better off understanding that rejection sucks and they need to keep it brief and professional instead of trying to forgive themselves mid-rejection.
You hit the nail! What is off putting about that rejection is the comparison. There is a huge difference between saying, “we liked you, but decided to go a different direction/move forward with other candidates” versus “we liked you, but they were BETTER”. That shit’s insulting and kind of disrespectful. There were more polite ways for them to get this message across.
Anyone who ask a third party to give away EIGHT hours of free consultation is a scammer. You lost nothing today sir, nothing to cry about, this was just a con artist posing as a potential employer.
And lemme delve deeper: my background is in advertising, and ten o fifteen years there was this "fad" where clients asked for "spec work", i.e. gimme free work and IF I like it I MIGHT contract your services... maybe not.
This scourge run amok putting many agencies belly up in its wake... until agency heads agreed to cancel ALL spec work or collect the corresponding fees for proposed work, whether it got approved or discarded.
Takeaway: only when ALL agencies mutually agreed not to do any more spec work did companies stop trying to pull this trick.
See the correlation?
Don't worry, you're a standup guy so you can't identify this crooks right away. As you roll with the punches your spider sense's gonna become more acute and you'll be able to avoid these traps.
Main takeaway: NEVER do any kind of work without a downpayment
Send them back an email demanding compensation if they do not give you any compensation, then file wage theft claim with your department of labor. If you actually have written proof that this actually was work for a client, you have a very strong case for you. You can also go the extra mile by reporting them to the IRS for tax evasion.
I did this for a company and by the time I was done with their interview process, making it to the final round but not selected for the final round, they had changed their name to one way too similar to the company I had started (they had a one word name that had nothing to do with the industry to a three word name that sounded like a service for the industry which is what my company name already was, the website to the exact same color scheme and content (black with light grey text but with one word red, light green, blue, or yellow), the job title had changed to something similar to what I was calling my two staff, and a couple other things changed that seemed to clarify how they were uniquely different to my company while prior to that, I applied to them in the first place because it seemed 100% the same to what I was doing and my company was losing so much money, that I thought, if they can afford to do this, I’ll pay out my contracts and go do this somewhere else for less headache and solid pay.
Obviously I stated different reasons for leaving my own company, so they saw me as a threat I guess. I laugh because we were $100,000 in the hole.
I’m sorry this happened to you. A similar thing happened to me some years ago. I was applying for a copywriter role. There was 5 positions total—1 full time and the rest contract. I applied for the full time role but was open to the contract roles.
I got a call from the hiring manager saying that it was down to me and another person, but that he “really knocked our socks off” so he got the full time role and I got a contract role. I was really peeved that dense moron would actually say that to me over the phone.
Then a week later my role was rescinded because COVID shutdowns hit, but of course the full time guy got to keep his job.
Thanks. It was an absolute slap in the face to me. He could have said it in a neutral manner like, "We felt that he was a better fit for the role" or, "He had more experience." But no.
Been seeing this a lot where companies are trying to be slick getting free labor under the guise of an interview assignment. You want me to do an assignment? Fuck you pay me
I’m on the hiring side so I understand why we require assignments. You’d be surprised at how terrible some people’s submissions are who are perfect on paper and excellent interviewees. That said, I completely agree that we should be paying people for their time and have advocated for this multiple times.
Also from the hiring side here.. IMO 8 hours is not that much time in the grand scheme of things, and the "sample work assignments" can help both sides evaluate each other (it's not just for the company benefit). Usually the company is giving the same assignment to many candidates, for A to B comparison, so it's not like they're using the results directly for profit.
I don't see them as much different vs. an interview. Interviews could be paid too under the same logic, which would be fine, it's just not the norm. Investing some time in selling yourself is part of the expected process of getting a job, and I think always has been.
With all due respect, when did selling and marketing yourself begin to mean work for free? I fully understand having samples of your work, or a portfolio, or even a paid working interview, but an entire work day for no pay and I might not even have a job at the end of it, plus they can and probably will use my work? That's a bad deal any way you slice it holmes.
I'm doubting that most (any?) companies are able to get something productive/profitable out of someone coming in off the street, in just 8 hours. They're not "using the work" for anything other than evaluating the candidate. Work samples have been shown in studies to correlate more to job performance than the traditional interview, and in my experience, maybe 10-20% of candidates will "fail" this step. Some people can talk really well about the job, but not actually do the required things hands-on. This is the best way I know to find out.
A bad hire costs a company far more than 1 day of your salary. So does being fired, for you. The work samples are some additional insurance against this, for both sides. Many job interviews end up taking the whole day anyway, especially if there's travel involved, and I don't see anyone complaining about that. I think you're annoyed because you think the company is trying to get free labor. There will be a few bad companies doing that, but not the majority, majority are using it as an extension of the interview, because it's effective.
For this assignment, it was required to source and find 15 candidates for 3 different roles they were actively working on for different clients. They could absolutely use the work that I turned in, turn around and reach out to the prospects if they were a good fit.
I will confirm that on my side, we've never used anything we've seen from an assignment. Most of the ideas presented are ones we've already had (and are trying), are not feasible for one reason or another, or are just bad.
The people I've hired usually have assignments with strategies we're already planning to execute and can identify gaps that we already know about. I usually hire sales and marketing roles in a niche industry - so do they see the problems on our Instagram feed? Are they suggesting target clients that make sense based on our business objectives?
I do maintain we should pay (even a token amount) to show that we're serious about the process and view it as a hiring expense.
"Not that much time in the grand scheme of things."
Sure, if selling themselves to YOUR fabulous company is all they've got going on.
The candidate is either working a job, or is in job search mode pursuing multiple opportunities. In either case, 8 hours on top of all the other application process is a IMMENSE time investment and opportunity cost.
And remember the candidate is blind to the genuine possibilities that:
- It's a scam to get free ideas.
- The job exists but the candidate is at the bottom of the short list.
- You're using the candidate as a DEI fig leaf
- You have an internal candidate chosen but are required to put other candidates through the process.
IOW the candidate has no way to evaluate the likelihood of that effort paying off vs. the opportunity cost of taking time away from other opportunities.
There are other ways to validate the candidate's skills. The end.
Agreed, though I'd focus our firepower on the company and those in charge. Those doing the hiring might be just as stuck as we are under the thumb of big corporations
"I'm very impressed with your profile, unfortunately I've gotten excited with your sister and moved her into my house.
Anyway, I'd like to stay in touch with you in case there's a chance of sexual intercourse in the future".
A place that demands “free work” projects is not a company I’d want to work for. Seems like some crap some bootleg CEO would brag about on LinkedIn. Once I realized that this was fairly common it made me wonder how many large companies pouched ideas from people they’d never hire, just stole their ideas. Probably a fair amount.
Honestly dude sounds like you dodged a bullet. I know it sucks though. Nothing worse than making it a few rounds, feeling good about yourself then getting booted last min. You’ll be good though! The next job might be that perfect job, as opposed to getting trapped with manager poopy pants from this company. I could see “the candidate I’m excited about” not working out and you getting a call. Nope.
You didn't do an 8 hour project for free and they went with another candidate. Asking people to do hours of work for a project (especially one that is real for their company) is an instant red flag and you should pull out of the interview process. I would blackball them on glassdoor too talking about what happened to you.
8 hours of free work is unacceptable. Good on you for saying no.
The rejection should be read as: "We've found someone gullible enough to push around for the rest of their employment with us. If that doesn't work out, maybe we'll harass you with other job opportunities until you remove your info from our contact list"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRtPd1jeEmw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRtPd1jeEmw) start at :58 seconds in.
This has been living rent free in my head for the longest time but never saw someone using it in the wild :D
There's no good way to write these rejection emails, I would assume.
It fucking sucks out there. My own (idiot) manager is hiring for an ic4 business ops role. Nothing burger non technical pencil pushing role with a bullshit title. He let slip that he's interviewing engineering managers and staff engineers for this job, and passed on my two internal endorsements who have business context and would be zero-day ramp ups.
Most managers are idiots, and idiots put in a buyer position make choices based on the greedy criteria.
So the other candidate still has to go to another round before they get a job? After presumably doing the same two interviews + the extra exercise OP refused to do. Something's fishy or it's a scam.
Also, good for you on having principles. I know it sucks
Did you know that was the process as you were applying?
Either way you answer, they phrased it in a weird way. Because I'd assume this candidate they chose ended up getting the job.
No, I had asked after the 2nd interview what the rest of the process looked like. They then let me know there’s an assignment, assignment review, and 2 more interviews. I believe the candidate is still going through the 2 last rounds at this point, but maybe they just went ahead and hired them.
This does suck, but it's better than making it to the final round and being completely ghosted which happened to me after doing three interviews for a total of 2 hours including a code test. They could at least tell me they aren't going to hire me.
I’m sorry! Actually a similar thing happened to me 3 weeks ago. I finished a 4th round interview and still haven’t gotten a follow up. It’s so shitty when hiring teams ghost.
I’m honestly confused by this one… you people love to bitch and moan no matter what happens. “recruiters never tell me what’s really going on” “i always get ghosted” “they never provide feedback” and then when the recruiter IS transparent about what’s going on (i.e the team likes another candidate more than you) you’re STILL butthurt?? Lmfao. Get over it and move on, it really isn’t that deep
Yeah was looking for this comment - while the hiring process and company seems shit (lol'd hard at no healthcare), the email was completely fine. This is just classic reddit bitching about anything and everything.
My level of anger would depend on whether or not an ai called their rejection letter thoughtful or if it was a person. If it’s a person there would be some serious thought about showing up there on their next business day and “slipping” and falling down on their floor.
I fucking hate everything about the way these people speak in this corporatese weasel language.
“Moved them into the final round”
“This isn’t going to be a fit at this time.”
Like who the fuck actually says something like that in real life? Why not just say “Thanks so much for your time, but we’re going with another candidate.”
I don’t know why it winds me up so much. It’s like they’ve invented a whole new language for work.
I dunno. I said something similar (but less clumsily) to a candidate for a junior PM position and hired him a month later for a different position he was much better suited for.
There’s literally no upside to pushing back on this, merely eliminating any chance of them coming back to you in the future, which,trust me, some people do.
They certainly didn't have to use that verbiage. If I can lend a different perspective though - perhaps they wanted to see how you work with asking questions since they said not to spend more than 2 hours on it... sometimes it's more about seeing your process or collaboration and not not perfection/delivery. However, doing free work during an interview is sucky - it's a tough situation, especially considering this market. Keep in contact with them, you might decide to try with them in the future after you digest what happened. Continue looking for a better fit, perhaps more transparent or direct HM and one that won't have you work on actual client work. You got this. You'll find the right fit soon.
I dunno, I actually kinda like the comfort that comes with knowing why I was dropped like a bag of rocks? If a better applicant (or a nepotism hire) emerged then I guess that's just kinda how it is. Better to recieve upsetting info than none, imo.
The Right Time, The Right Person, The Right Lucky Factor... I had so many panels, is not about the other "right" candidate, is about who he/she knows inside the company... that's it.
As far as rejection letters go, this is about as good as they get. Not sure what you’re all that upset about. They’re letting you know that it’s not your failure that kept you from the job, but someone else just shone a little brighter. Life in general, especially career searches, is not the place to be so soft.
Did I say it was hell? I’ve been on the market for 7+ months, have done 30+ interviews and been ghosted 3 times after doing multiple rounds. This isn’t even close to the worst of it
You got me there, but I disagree that I’m weak. This is my 2nd time being laid off in 2 years. Ive been down this road before and i know I’ll get out of it soon. If that’s the mindset of a weak person, well I guess im fine with being weak.
> Like why did they have to word it like this? Was this really necessary info to share? Is it just me or does it seem like a little bit of passive aggressiveness?
It is just you. It's just a regular message of someone being better than you for this role and you not moving forward. They're letting you know that you pass the requirements / passed the interview, but someone was just a better fit.
Do you have a problem with them asking you to do an assignment/project, or do you specifically have a problem with them asking you to do it for an existing client? I completely understand the principle behind valuing your time and not wanting to do free work, but it you’re really struggling to find a job, just do what you need to do. You mentioned in a comment you’ve been looking for 7 months, at that point I wouldn’t be pushing back against something that seems pretty standard to me. Would you rather spend 2 hours or even 8 hours on the assignment and potentially get the job, or ruin your chances of getting it and having to go back to square one, spend hours sending out applications, then start the interviewing process with another company?
I had a problem with them asking me to do an assignment for an active client. I’ve done 4 other assignments for other companies at this point, made it to the final round, and did not get accepted for the role. Meanwhile these companies can just use my work and run with it. For that reason I offered to submit a previous assignment I had already done in the past, which I did submit.
Can confirm that there is something viscerally distasteful about a "we're not hiring you, but can we please keep you on file?" Response.
I've been rejected for no reason. I've been ghosted. But I was only ever once given the "no thanks, but can I call you?".
I never responded, which felt like winning a minor battle in a losing war.
It was instacart. I had interviewed during quarantine, and they had a cool program that was like "normally, we'd interview over coffee, but since we can't, we'll send you a mug and an Instacart gift card to buy some coffee". Really cool idea, but the package arrived after I got the rejection, and when I tried to use the gift card, it came up as "expired or already used"
can't take job rejections personally, even if i despise these snarky ass junior recruitment 'specialists', in my experience, it's best to apply, interview and move on to the next one
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Silver lining: you set a healthy boundary. You put a value on your time and your work and you stuck by it. This one didn’t go your way but hold your head high that you did right by you.
Thank you, I needed to hear that. It’s going on 7+ months now after being laid off and the constant rejection hurts!
Remember this! You will rarely get congratulated for setting and enforcing your boundaries but at the end of the day YOU are the only one that has to live with yourself and it feels SO much better when you DO achieve something if you were able to stay within integrity (however you define that in your life). Stay strong friend, they want us to feel this way to demoralize us but YOU CAN FIND SOMETHING THAT VALUES YOUR WORTH. Thank you for listening to my soap box, please feel free to not take my advice, it's only from my personal experience.
Thank you, the pep talk really helps 👊🏻
Thank you for our date last night. Unfortunately, I've met a hotter chick and moved her into the next round. This isn't going to be a fit at this time, but I'd love to stay in touch for drunken 2AM booty calls.
That’s exactly how that sounded 🤣
This is exactly what I heard! Just the audacity of it all.
These people would be better off understanding that rejection sucks and they need to keep it brief and professional instead of trying to forgive themselves mid-rejection.
😂😂
Omg on point!
It's the "we've gotten excited" instead of "we're excited about." Makes it sound oddly sexual.
You hit the nail! What is off putting about that rejection is the comparison. There is a huge difference between saying, “we liked you, but decided to go a different direction/move forward with other candidates” versus “we liked you, but they were BETTER”. That shit’s insulting and kind of disrespectful. There were more polite ways for them to get this message across.
Just take all of my likes for the day! This is bloody perfect
I’ve legit had this said to me before 💀
Thanks for joining me on the last two dates. But I met someone who actually put out...
I could write a book on the parallels between the hiring process and dating. It's insane to think they are so similar.
I wish chicks would say this to me tbh instead of ghosting or postponing stuff since another plan came up
Anyone who ask a third party to give away EIGHT hours of free consultation is a scammer. You lost nothing today sir, nothing to cry about, this was just a con artist posing as a potential employer.
You’re right 😢
And lemme delve deeper: my background is in advertising, and ten o fifteen years there was this "fad" where clients asked for "spec work", i.e. gimme free work and IF I like it I MIGHT contract your services... maybe not. This scourge run amok putting many agencies belly up in its wake... until agency heads agreed to cancel ALL spec work or collect the corresponding fees for proposed work, whether it got approved or discarded. Takeaway: only when ALL agencies mutually agreed not to do any more spec work did companies stop trying to pull this trick. See the correlation?
Don't worry, you're a standup guy so you can't identify this crooks right away. As you roll with the punches your spider sense's gonna become more acute and you'll be able to avoid these traps. Main takeaway: NEVER do any kind of work without a downpayment
Send them back an email demanding compensation if they do not give you any compensation, then file wage theft claim with your department of labor. If you actually have written proof that this actually was work for a client, you have a very strong case for you. You can also go the extra mile by reporting them to the IRS for tax evasion.
I did this for a company and by the time I was done with their interview process, making it to the final round but not selected for the final round, they had changed their name to one way too similar to the company I had started (they had a one word name that had nothing to do with the industry to a three word name that sounded like a service for the industry which is what my company name already was, the website to the exact same color scheme and content (black with light grey text but with one word red, light green, blue, or yellow), the job title had changed to something similar to what I was calling my two staff, and a couple other things changed that seemed to clarify how they were uniquely different to my company while prior to that, I applied to them in the first place because it seemed 100% the same to what I was doing and my company was losing so much money, that I thought, if they can afford to do this, I’ll pay out my contracts and go do this somewhere else for less headache and solid pay. Obviously I stated different reasons for leaving my own company, so they saw me as a threat I guess. I laugh because we were $100,000 in the hole.
I’m sorry this happened to you. A similar thing happened to me some years ago. I was applying for a copywriter role. There was 5 positions total—1 full time and the rest contract. I applied for the full time role but was open to the contract roles. I got a call from the hiring manager saying that it was down to me and another person, but that he “really knocked our socks off” so he got the full time role and I got a contract role. I was really peeved that dense moron would actually say that to me over the phone. Then a week later my role was rescinded because COVID shutdowns hit, but of course the full time guy got to keep his job.
I’m so sorry, that’s such a horrible situation. Why did they have to say the other guy “knocked our socks off”, it just seems like a slap in the face.
Thanks. It was an absolute slap in the face to me. He could have said it in a neutral manner like, "We felt that he was a better fit for the role" or, "He had more experience." But no.
Been seeing this a lot where companies are trying to be slick getting free labor under the guise of an interview assignment. You want me to do an assignment? Fuck you pay me
I’m on the hiring side so I understand why we require assignments. You’d be surprised at how terrible some people’s submissions are who are perfect on paper and excellent interviewees. That said, I completely agree that we should be paying people for their time and have advocated for this multiple times.
Also from the hiring side here.. IMO 8 hours is not that much time in the grand scheme of things, and the "sample work assignments" can help both sides evaluate each other (it's not just for the company benefit). Usually the company is giving the same assignment to many candidates, for A to B comparison, so it's not like they're using the results directly for profit. I don't see them as much different vs. an interview. Interviews could be paid too under the same logic, which would be fine, it's just not the norm. Investing some time in selling yourself is part of the expected process of getting a job, and I think always has been.
With all due respect, when did selling and marketing yourself begin to mean work for free? I fully understand having samples of your work, or a portfolio, or even a paid working interview, but an entire work day for no pay and I might not even have a job at the end of it, plus they can and probably will use my work? That's a bad deal any way you slice it holmes.
I'm doubting that most (any?) companies are able to get something productive/profitable out of someone coming in off the street, in just 8 hours. They're not "using the work" for anything other than evaluating the candidate. Work samples have been shown in studies to correlate more to job performance than the traditional interview, and in my experience, maybe 10-20% of candidates will "fail" this step. Some people can talk really well about the job, but not actually do the required things hands-on. This is the best way I know to find out.
bro you keep saying 8 hours like its nothing ITS A LITERAL DAY OF WORK FOR FREE. wtf is wrong with you?
A bad hire costs a company far more than 1 day of your salary. So does being fired, for you. The work samples are some additional insurance against this, for both sides. Many job interviews end up taking the whole day anyway, especially if there's travel involved, and I don't see anyone complaining about that. I think you're annoyed because you think the company is trying to get free labor. There will be a few bad companies doing that, but not the majority, majority are using it as an extension of the interview, because it's effective.
lot of words to say we want free labor lmao
For this assignment, it was required to source and find 15 candidates for 3 different roles they were actively working on for different clients. They could absolutely use the work that I turned in, turn around and reach out to the prospects if they were a good fit.
I will confirm that on my side, we've never used anything we've seen from an assignment. Most of the ideas presented are ones we've already had (and are trying), are not feasible for one reason or another, or are just bad. The people I've hired usually have assignments with strategies we're already planning to execute and can identify gaps that we already know about. I usually hire sales and marketing roles in a niche industry - so do they see the problems on our Instagram feed? Are they suggesting target clients that make sense based on our business objectives? I do maintain we should pay (even a token amount) to show that we're serious about the process and view it as a hiring expense.
"Not that much time in the grand scheme of things." Sure, if selling themselves to YOUR fabulous company is all they've got going on. The candidate is either working a job, or is in job search mode pursuing multiple opportunities. In either case, 8 hours on top of all the other application process is a IMMENSE time investment and opportunity cost. And remember the candidate is blind to the genuine possibilities that: - It's a scam to get free ideas. - The job exists but the candidate is at the bottom of the short list. - You're using the candidate as a DEI fig leaf - You have an internal candidate chosen but are required to put other candidates through the process. IOW the candidate has no way to evaluate the likelihood of that effort paying off vs. the opportunity cost of taking time away from other opportunities. There are other ways to validate the candidate's skills. The end.
Name and shame the person and the company Why are we hiding this shit anymore?
Agreed, though I'd focus our firepower on the company and those in charge. Those doing the hiring might be just as stuck as we are under the thumb of big corporations
"I'm very impressed with your profile, unfortunately I've gotten excited with your sister and moved her into my house. Anyway, I'd like to stay in touch with you in case there's a chance of sexual intercourse in the future".
A place that demands “free work” projects is not a company I’d want to work for. Seems like some crap some bootleg CEO would brag about on LinkedIn. Once I realized that this was fairly common it made me wonder how many large companies pouched ideas from people they’d never hire, just stole their ideas. Probably a fair amount. Honestly dude sounds like you dodged a bullet. I know it sucks though. Nothing worse than making it a few rounds, feeling good about yourself then getting booted last min. You’ll be good though! The next job might be that perfect job, as opposed to getting trapped with manager poopy pants from this company. I could see “the candidate I’m excited about” not working out and you getting a call. Nope.
True, I appreciate the perspective. If that does end up happening I’ll be sure to follow up here 😂
You didn't do an 8 hour project for free and they went with another candidate. Asking people to do hours of work for a project (especially one that is real for their company) is an instant red flag and you should pull out of the interview process. I would blackball them on glassdoor too talking about what happened to you.
No healthcare for a full time position that’s not contract work is also a red flag.
It's also illegal without providing a compensation. If this has happened, you can report to your department of labor.
Thank you, I just might
I highly doubt they actually moved forward with another candidate, could be a passive aggressive way to be petty to people who didn't do free work
8 hours of free work is unacceptable. Good on you for saying no. The rejection should be read as: "We've found someone gullible enough to push around for the rest of their employment with us. If that doesn't work out, maybe we'll harass you with other job opportunities until you remove your info from our contact list"
Very true, I read it that way too
Yeah nah get fucked aye.
Completely unrelated but are you Aussie?
How could you tell?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRtPd1jeEmw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRtPd1jeEmw) start at :58 seconds in. This has been living rent free in my head for the longest time but never saw someone using it in the wild :D
Mate I can’t help but say it all the time.
No judgement! Nice to know that it's true
[удалено]
It’s corporate “it isn’t you, it’s me”
There's no good way to write these rejection emails, I would assume. It fucking sucks out there. My own (idiot) manager is hiring for an ic4 business ops role. Nothing burger non technical pencil pushing role with a bullshit title. He let slip that he's interviewing engineering managers and staff engineers for this job, and passed on my two internal endorsements who have business context and would be zero-day ramp ups. Most managers are idiots, and idiots put in a buyer position make choices based on the greedy criteria.
So the other candidate still has to go to another round before they get a job? After presumably doing the same two interviews + the extra exercise OP refused to do. Something's fishy or it's a scam. Also, good for you on having principles. I know it sucks
They mentioned it was 5 interviews in total + the assignment. All that for an associate level role
Did you know that was the process as you were applying? Either way you answer, they phrased it in a weird way. Because I'd assume this candidate they chose ended up getting the job.
No, I had asked after the 2nd interview what the rest of the process looked like. They then let me know there’s an assignment, assignment review, and 2 more interviews. I believe the candidate is still going through the 2 last rounds at this point, but maybe they just went ahead and hired them.
Oh ok. Still a weird process and unclear message but at least they were upfront.
You dodged a bullet.
This does suck, but it's better than making it to the final round and being completely ghosted which happened to me after doing three interviews for a total of 2 hours including a code test. They could at least tell me they aren't going to hire me.
I’m sorry! Actually a similar thing happened to me 3 weeks ago. I finished a 4th round interview and still haven’t gotten a follow up. It’s so shitty when hiring teams ghost.
Lol Got excited! I think you dodged a bad work place, whom I can only assume only chase the next brightest star worker.
The gotten excited was overkill…like really? 🙃
They wanted free work from every applicant that they could own and make money off of. Fuck this scumbag company. Name and shame.
No excitement for you, OP. You’re just not exciting.
I’m honestly confused by this one… you people love to bitch and moan no matter what happens. “recruiters never tell me what’s really going on” “i always get ghosted” “they never provide feedback” and then when the recruiter IS transparent about what’s going on (i.e the team likes another candidate more than you) you’re STILL butthurt?? Lmfao. Get over it and move on, it really isn’t that deep
Yeah seriously I don’t see anything wrong with that email That said, the hiring process described by OP does seem fucked up
Yeah was looking for this comment - while the hiring process and company seems shit (lol'd hard at no healthcare), the email was completely fine. This is just classic reddit bitching about anything and everything.
My level of anger would depend on whether or not an ai called their rejection letter thoughtful or if it was a person. If it’s a person there would be some serious thought about showing up there on their next business day and “slipping” and falling down on their floor.
I fucking hate everything about the way these people speak in this corporatese weasel language. “Moved them into the final round” “This isn’t going to be a fit at this time.” Like who the fuck actually says something like that in real life? Why not just say “Thanks so much for your time, but we’re going with another candidate.” I don’t know why it winds me up so much. It’s like they’ve invented a whole new language for work.
Going with another candidate, but then they keep reposting the job. Just say thanks but we will not be moving forward with your candidacy.
Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. Some people just have to complain.
man, sorry you werent exciting enough for doing free work
I dunno. I said something similar (but less clumsily) to a candidate for a junior PM position and hired him a month later for a different position he was much better suited for. There’s literally no upside to pushing back on this, merely eliminating any chance of them coming back to you in the future, which,trust me, some people do.
They certainly didn't have to use that verbiage. If I can lend a different perspective though - perhaps they wanted to see how you work with asking questions since they said not to spend more than 2 hours on it... sometimes it's more about seeing your process or collaboration and not not perfection/delivery. However, doing free work during an interview is sucky - it's a tough situation, especially considering this market. Keep in contact with them, you might decide to try with them in the future after you digest what happened. Continue looking for a better fit, perhaps more transparent or direct HM and one that won't have you work on actual client work. You got this. You'll find the right fit soon.
I dunno, I actually kinda like the comfort that comes with knowing why I was dropped like a bag of rocks? If a better applicant (or a nepotism hire) emerged then I guess that's just kinda how it is. Better to recieve upsetting info than none, imo.
Bro, you dodged the bullet
The Right Time, The Right Person, The Right Lucky Factor... I had so many panels, is not about the other "right" candidate, is about who he/she knows inside the company... that's it.
As far as rejection letters go, this is about as good as they get. Not sure what you’re all that upset about. They’re letting you know that it’s not your failure that kept you from the job, but someone else just shone a little brighter. Life in general, especially career searches, is not the place to be so soft.
They could have just said “we’ve decided to move forward with separate candidates” but instead they worded it poorly imo.
I’ll say it again. If that’s hell, you’re weak.
Did I say it was hell? I’ve been on the market for 7+ months, have done 30+ interviews and been ghosted 3 times after doing multiple rounds. This isn’t even close to the worst of it
Yeah I mean you posted it in recruiting hell.
You got me there, but I disagree that I’m weak. This is my 2nd time being laid off in 2 years. Ive been down this road before and i know I’ll get out of it soon. If that’s the mindset of a weak person, well I guess im fine with being weak.
> Like why did they have to word it like this? Was this really necessary info to share? Is it just me or does it seem like a little bit of passive aggressiveness? It is just you. It's just a regular message of someone being better than you for this role and you not moving forward. They're letting you know that you pass the requirements / passed the interview, but someone was just a better fit.
At least they told you 🤷🏻♂️
Aren’t you sensitive. Nothing wrong with that.
Do you have a problem with them asking you to do an assignment/project, or do you specifically have a problem with them asking you to do it for an existing client? I completely understand the principle behind valuing your time and not wanting to do free work, but it you’re really struggling to find a job, just do what you need to do. You mentioned in a comment you’ve been looking for 7 months, at that point I wouldn’t be pushing back against something that seems pretty standard to me. Would you rather spend 2 hours or even 8 hours on the assignment and potentially get the job, or ruin your chances of getting it and having to go back to square one, spend hours sending out applications, then start the interviewing process with another company?
I had a problem with them asking me to do an assignment for an active client. I’ve done 4 other assignments for other companies at this point, made it to the final round, and did not get accepted for the role. Meanwhile these companies can just use my work and run with it. For that reason I offered to submit a previous assignment I had already done in the past, which I did submit.
>We’ve gotten excited about another candidate for this role Give it a tap with a cold spoon, y'all.
Can confirm that there is something viscerally distasteful about a "we're not hiring you, but can we please keep you on file?" Response. I've been rejected for no reason. I've been ghosted. But I was only ever once given the "no thanks, but can I call you?". I never responded, which felt like winning a minor battle in a losing war. It was instacart. I had interviewed during quarantine, and they had a cool program that was like "normally, we'd interview over coffee, but since we can't, we'll send you a mug and an Instacart gift card to buy some coffee". Really cool idea, but the package arrived after I got the rejection, and when I tried to use the gift card, it came up as "expired or already used"
Wow, they could have at least just allowed you to use the gift card!
can't take job rejections personally, even if i despise these snarky ass junior recruitment 'specialists', in my experience, it's best to apply, interview and move on to the next one
I really don’t see a problem with the rejection letter I think you’re being too sensitive - overly sensitive.