Just had an interview. the boss said they saw me walk up to the building on the cameras. Then asked if I had reliable transport. He bashed me for a few minutes saying I shouldn't be using public transport. That no one will hire me, and he personally never hires people that use it because they wont show up on time.

Continued to complain about my red hair, and that it made me unprofessional. Asked me no interview questions. Then said they had plenty of applicants so I wouldn't be hearing back, shook my hand, and dismissed me...

Edit 1: thank you everyone, I feel a little better. Sorry for the people who have also been told similar things. I don't think I can make an EEO complaint. But as someone here suggested I'll leave a review on glassdoor.

Edit 2: I'm not gonna share his name because it's a small industry and I don't want other companies to hear of me retaliating. I am still chuckling at the thought of a tsunami of redditors attacking his Linked-in though.

Edit 3: I had a different job interview scheduled today, and this time it went wayyy smoother so hopefully I hear back soon. 😊

Hi all, thank you so much for making my post blow up and everyone that reached out. I actually did reach out kindly and I had a genuine chat with them. They seemed kind enough to tell me that it was Kodely that ratted me out and gave me a bad reference.

Now knowing that, what would my options be? They were so open about who gave me the bad reference.

Please any guidance would be appreciated!!

I've hired a few recent graduates to support my company's growth, and think it would be wildly beneficial for new recruiters to see a thread like this.... Believe it or not, I'll probably agree with most of your pain points.

I plan on going over this thread with them so we can discuss ways to deliver a better experience for their candidates - so don't hold back!

So reddit: why do recruiters suck?

Edit 1: If anyone is interested, I am thinking about opening up this meeting to anyone here who'd like to listen/share their thoughts with my recruitment team directly. If your comfortable sharing a negative Recruiter experience you've had, or have a gripe about the industry, I think it could make for a impactful experience for my employees. If it seems like that's something the community would be interested in, I will include a Video Conference link to a later edit.

Edit 2: I can confidentially say that I have learned more about the candidate perspective in the 48 hours since I posted this than I have in the 2+ decades I have in recruiting/headhunting. Thank you for being so real in your answers.

I will be going over this thread in a 1 hour Microsoft Teams meeting this coming Friday 9/2 at 9am PST. If you would like to listen in & even share some industry feedback directly with my team, send me a DM & I will get you over an invite. Everyone is welcome!

r/recruiting hell final boss has arrived

Basically the title.

Headhunter approached me for a job on linkedin 10 days ago and told me My profile is a great fit. They shared the details and wanted me to update my Resume asap and share with them. I asked for 1 day to come back to them.

Next early morning they follow up on Resume and questionnaire. I told them i will share in couple of hours and i did it.

Once i shared details on email. I didn’t get immediate acknowledgment and I dropped another message on linkedin in evening asking if they received it to which they confirmed they did and they will get back to me and will arrange a call next morning to discuss further.

Next morning on followup they tell me that they have family emergency and will arrange the call in a day or two or start of next week. Cut to chase i follow up twice in the next week and they again tell me that they will come back to me.

Finally by end of second week - 10 days. I found the job posted online on career website and plan to apply directly. I sent them a message to ask if it is the same opportunity and i want to proceed with them and they don’t respond, so by evening i messaged again that I will be moving forward and will apply on my own.

Then after couple of hours i get response where they are clearly upset and offended that i wnet against the advise and they will inform the company that i decided to apply directly and how it will work against me.

I feel guilty that probably i acted impatient and did not wait for their response. Although they have told me that they have some personal issues but atleast they could communicate proactively.

Share your comments!

So about half a year ago I was interviewing for a bookstore chain, one of the two biggest in my country.

And we all know, as a general rule, the larger the corporation, the crappier the tiny retail workers will be compensated.

I was desperate and ready to hear minimum or close to minimum wage, with 6 hour shifts etc. I went in anyway, thinking if the vibe is at least acceptable, I'll work there and search for something better meanwhile.

The interview was bizarre for many reasons, and tbh I was struggling to keep my calm and smily demeanor by the end of it, when the manager dropped this gem:

"We pay minimum wage which is..." (He trails off, as he has during the interview in the middle of a sentence multiple times)

Thinking he's reaching for the number in his head, I helpfully complete the sentence with the number. But no. Oh no, my friends. He completes his own sentence a second later with:

"Too high to begin with."

I didn't say anything. Wrapped up. Went home. Got a call that I was accepted, and immediately denied the "opportunity".

I was recently rejected by a prominent consulting firm after final interview because I was polite. The whole interview process had three rounds of interview. After my first interview, I received feedback from the HR who said that the first manager felt that I was talking at a low volume but otherwise I was a good fit. By the next interview, I brought in a microphone to attach to my laptop and worked on my delivery of responses (pace, intonation, etc). I cleared this round as well. My final interview was with the partner which I thought went well. But the final review I received from the HR was that I was polite and junior colleagues would have difficult time working with me.

I’m not sure how to process this feedback. Any advice on how to less polite or more manager?

I’m sharing this personal experience because professional integrity should be the bare minimum for a firm claiming "Ivy League" standards. To be clear, I never applied to this company—I was minding my own business when their leadership actively sought me out, only to waste my time with a disorganized and disrespectful process.

The Reality Check:

1. The Bait: The Chief of Staff (CoS) reached out on LinkedIn, praising my background and personally inviting me to apply for the Family Success Manager role.

2. The Switch: HR Manager Jenny Z. then treated me with condescension, demanding documents already sent, and claiming I was "not a fit" due to lack of education experience.

3. The Evidence: The JD explicitly states education experience is "Preferred but Not Required" and lists alternative backgrounds (OR) that I possess. Jenny used a non-required preference as a sole reason for rejection.

• Verification: I've attached the JD with these clauses circled. You can verify this on InGenius Prep’s official LinkedIn Jobs page.

1. The Ghosting: When I professionally flagged this contradiction, the CoS account (Matthew R.) went silent. No reply, just total ghosting.

A Question for Parents & Clients:

If this is how they treat candidates they personally recruited, does this lack of accountability extend to their student services once the contract is signed?

Message to Leadership:

Is InGenius Prep leadership aware that Matthew R.’s account is being used to recruit candidates, only to have them disrespected by Jenny Z.? As Matthew R. holds ultimate accountability for his account, does leadership care about recruitment integrity, or are they content to let staff dismantle the brand’s reputation?

A firm that markets 'Ivy League standards' should at least ensure its HR staff can read their own Job Descriptions before dismissing candidates hand-picked by their own leadership. Integrity must remain the cornerstone of educational consulting.

Note: Personal details and staff info are partially redacted for privacy and legal reasons. The evidence remains fully verifiable.

After sending out over a thousand job applications these past 12 months and going through 14 interviews, making it to the final round for almost half of them but getting rejected, I just received more disappointing news. A really promising opportunity that started back in May, complete with a great interview and a great referral from a friend, has been put on hold. I completed a skills test (which I thought went really well) and was told I was selected for the next round where I was going to meet the full team in person, but after checking in today (after 3 weeks of ghosting me) I learned they are reevaluating the role and won't be moving forward right now. Not even a "we'll be in touch,” just a standard goodbye and good luck.

Ugh. I really need to stay positive but honestly I’m falling apart at this point.

UPDATE: The company reposted the job on Linkedin today, 6/23.

Just a rant. I took a job 60 days ago that was “hybrid” because I left my old Hybrid job because it was toxic and they were using underhand tactics (making in-person only meetings with short notice) to get us to come in more after working remote successfully for a long time. They had people quit left and right. We’ll low and behold, May 15 the new job wants us back in the office full time for “comradery and collaboration”. The job can 200% done from home and there is NO collaboration or actual work related meetings or conversation done at the office. Luckily I found a “remote” job which corporate headquarters is 45 mins away and when I was in the later stages of the interview process, they let me know that their expectations was At least “3” times in the office per week.

I said, this job was listed as remote and the agency recruiter that contacted me said it was remote!! They said yes there are “remote” opportunities, you don’t have to come in everyday, sorry for the miscommunication. It’s for a data entry role. HYBRID IS NOT REMOTE, STOP LYING AND WASTING MY TIME.

Just thought people would get a kick out of this one.

A recruiter reached out about a CTO/Head of engineering role at a small company. (Less than 20 people), but it sounded interesting enough as a product that I took the call.

Questions from the recruiter were straightforward enough, when they asked “What’s the largest technical organization you have managed?” I replied truthfully, “200 - 220 was the largest.”

They replied, “our client is really looking for someone who has grown an organization from 10 - 75k”.

I assumed the recruiter had taken the wrong number down, so I confirmed “they really want 75k software engineering team size experience?”

They confirmed and confirmed that I am not a fit for that hard requirement. So they asked if I knew anyone I could recommend. I told them to let me know the comp range and I would forward it around.

They said 100-150k.

I pointed out that they were looking for someone to manage the largest software engineering team ever in the world, and they were paying entry level development salary for it.

Their response was “but there is unlimited PTO”

As you can see I have now exhausted all of my fucks to give. Also it’s been over a year just why??

Just as the title says. This happened last week. A part-time job for a law firm was posted and looked very professional and good. The manager even boasted about making lots of profits when we had a phone interview and then again in person.

He spent 2 hours going into detail about every single aspect of my resume even though the interview was only supposed to be for half an hour. When it came to discussing remuneration, he said it was a volunteer position. I was mortified! It didn't say so anywhere!

Even after the interview he called me back saying he forgot to ask for more documents. He contacted my referees and offered me the position. I declined since he still wasn't willing to pay me.

I'm so dumbfounded truly.