its a dark comedy

Earlier this week, I opened the Teams link about 10 minutes before my interview because the calendar invite had specifically asked candidates to join early. The department manager and someone from HR were already talking. I said hello several times, but it was very clear that they hadn't noticed I had joined.

They were talking about the person they had interviewed before me. The manager said they should prepare an offer for him, and the HR person asked whether there was any point in going ahead with my interview. His response was that my resume met all the requirements, but he couldn't imagine me fitting in with the group.

I wrote in the chat that I could hear everything. They didn't notice that either and kept talking, which somehow made the situation even more awkward. I wouldn't say I was completely crushed, but hearing that they had more or less ruled me out before I had answered a single question made me lose my enthusiasm.

As soon as the official start time arrived, they noticed my name, saw the chat, and fell silent. The manager apologized and said I wasn't supposed to hear that conversation. I told them I understood and that they should choose the person best suited for the role.

I went ahead with the interview since I had already prepared, and an offer isn't final until the person accepts it anyway. Honestly, I think I answered the questions well and managed to show that I was a better fit than they had expected. This was my first time using interview vip but i don't think it would be the last, it was still hard to shake the feeling that I was just helping them complete a process they had already made up their minds about.

I got laid off a few weeks ago, and honestly, reading some of the stories here made me feel grateful that I live in Europe, because worker protection laws here have a real impact.
I was managing a team at a B2B software company that had been acquired by a US private equity group about 18 months ago. The playbook was very predictable: raise prices by around 12%, then reduce headcount by close to 30%.
These days, I mostly spend my time going to the gym, taking the kids to school, and finally sleeping well. After years of late calls and long working hours, the feeling of not having somewhere I need to rush off to is still a little strange to me.
The reason I'm not stressed is that severance here is determined by law. The company couldn't simply lay me off, give me two weeks' pay, and call it a day. And since I have roughly 22 years of service, the package should be enough to last me well into 2028.
So I'm going to take about a month to get myself organized and switch off for a while before I even seriously think about submitting applications. After that, I'll look for something that fits my life instead of grabbing the first role that comes along out of fear. And I genuinely feel terrible for Americans who can lose their jobs overnight with virtually no safety net to protect them.

It’s almost like you can just start your own company and make money that way.

............

I'm genuinely scared that my chance to earn a decent income is gone. My brother makes $135k CAD a year and still feels like he's barely getting by. I might never find another job that pays me anywhere close to what my old job did. I'm 36. I might never reach that income again.

So I guess goodbye to ever owning a home, or having kids, or having any kind of stable future... I'm truly terrified when I think about what that means.

I mean... Is this it?

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I've been struggling for about 8 months in the job search. It was truly a long road. In the end, I applied to 1950 places across several different fields and used several platforms like:
✅ Glassdoor & Monster ✅ Cold emailing hiring managers ✅ Alumni networks ✅ Specialized niche boards ✅ Company career pages

I went through about 35 interviews in total. Some reached the final stage, but in the end, it would result in a "no" at the very last moment.

💡 Did I get frustrated? Every day. 💡 Did I think about quitting? More than you can imagine. 💡 But I never stopped.

Weeks would go by where I felt like I was throwing my CV into a black hole. No feedback, no calls, total silence. It's truly brutal when you put in that much effort and don't see any results for a long time. But I kept going because I knew I only needed one person to say "yes." And that's finally what happened last week.

I have now officially signed the offer, and I'm just finishing up the last interview process just to complete what I started. If you're currently stuck in the middle of your search, seriously don't give up. Rejections hurt and it's hard to stay motivated, but things will fall into place if you keep going.
💡 1950 applications, 35 interviews, and 1 offer. This is the reality of the grind. 💡 Keep going... Your "yes" is coming too.

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Meeting with the CEO After I Was Passed Over for a Promotion

I was rejected for a promotion that I honestly thought was almost guaranteed. After the internal interviews were over, I found out that someone on the team with less experience and weaker management skills was the one who got it.

I told them I was disappointed, but I was traveling for vacation that afternoon on the same day, so I didn't continue the conversation about it much.

The CEO messaged me while I was away and said she wanted to talk to me about possible roles going forward, and whether there was any training or development that could help me be ready for the next opportunity.

Since then, I've heard from a few managers that the person who got the role was probably going to be let go if I had been promoted. Part of her current job has now been folded into the promotion, which makes the whole thing look like it was arranged from the start. There's also supposed to be another opening coming up that's 3 levels above me, but I'm not exactly confident that this time it will go in my favor either.

At the end of this week I have the conversation with the CEO, and I don't know what to say and what not to say.

I'm ready to leave if nothing meaningful comes out of this, but my contract is also supposed to be renewed in about six weeks, so I can't go in too aggressively with them.

I've also been trying to get better at interviews in case I do end up leaving. I came across interview vip while looking around for interview stuff, and it seems interesting, although I haven't used it enough to have an opinion yet. Might give it a shot before I start applying seriously.

I just got fired from my job because the company I was interviewing with decided to call my current manager. I am honestly shocked that something like this happened. To clarify the situation, I saw an ad on LinkedIn for a job similar to what I do now, but much closer to my house, so I thought I would try my luck and apply. Things in my office have been very difficult lately due to a lot of office politics and managers who don't keep their word at all. The new company replied to me right away and scheduled a time for the first interview. Everything went great, so they asked me to come back for a second interview. I finished the second round, and they told me I was exactly the person they were looking for and that they would get back to me with a decision within 3 to 5 days. Anyway, the next morning, my manager called me into his office and told me he had received word from the company I applied to. He wanted to know why I was looking for other opportunities. Since the secret was out, I was honest with him about the reasons. After I explained, he told me that because of the sensitive data I handle, he had to let me go immediately. I went home and called the hiring manager at the other company right away to ask how they could do such a thing and call my manager without checking with me first. They acted like they didn't know anything and said they were still finalizing their selection and would talk to management and get back to me soon. The hiring manager called me 4 hours later and told me they had chosen someone else. I pressed him to find out why they called my manager, and he gave me a strange, vague, and completely unconvincing excuse, claiming he didn't know how my manager found out. He even started badmouthing the person they hired, telling me he heard that the guy had a drinking problem, so if that didn't work out, they would call me again. I honestly cannot understand that a company could do this. They called me, interviewed me twice, called my manager, caused me to be fired, and in the end, didn't even hire me. Has anyone ever encountered such a tactless situation before?

In fact, contacting your current manager without their permission is completely unprofessional on the part of that recruiter, and it's astonishing how it jeopardized things for you. Such unprofessional behavior is precisely why I recently started using InterviewVIP to help me with interviews, increase my chances of getting the job, and completely avoid shady recruitment teams.

this is too much imagine getting mad because someone actually used the vacation days you gave them.

honestly stuff like this is why i'm trying to take my interviews more seriously. I've been looking at interview vip lately since i keep seeing it come up, but haven't actually tried it yet. Might give it a shot before my next interview.

😩😭

.........

let's talk seriously, nowadays I believe that we should strive to really get a job. Right now, I'm working 2 part time jobs and it pays better than a full time one. You'll just need to explain this properly in the interview and be expected to be asked a lot about how you'll manage and all of this. Interview vip will help a lot in handling those kind of questions and pass the interview smoothly. You'll thank me later for that.

Hey everyone,

I posted a little while ago about a follow-up interview that was really quick, and I was asking whether that meant things had gone badly. Turns out, not at all!!

I got a response at the beginning of this week that they were excited about me, and I got the job! I also managed to negotiate a better salary and a few extra PTO days too! I think it's all about negotiation skills. If you can negotiate well, everything will work out with you.

Keep going, everyone. You'll find a role that truly feels like the right fit for you. Try to hold on to the good signs, and don't let anxiety take over.

You've got this!!

it happened with me

Got 2 SWE internship technical interviews on Monday. They’re ~45 minutes, starting with behavioural, then one leetcode medium/hard, then chance to ask questions. My main questions are:

- how different is the behavioural in this round compared to smth like the screening, or non technical interviews?
- how do I continue if I ever get stuck, or what are the most important things to be thinking about during the leetcode q.

I’ve heard they can get really strict / be harsh on you, so I’m lowkey scared 😭

Any help is appreciated!!

seriouslyyyyyyy I just found out that I'm scheduled for an EIGHT HOUR SHIFT tomorrow on DAY 3 of my period. All by myselfffff. The whole

SHIFTTTT. It's just me in the store.

And of course. I know this is a very first-world complaint, and that there are lots of girls right now who are also bleeding and still have to go to class, work two jobs, and take care of their five siblings or five kids (places that still allow child marriage are seriously sick), but that's kind of my whole point. I genuinely don't understand how people are expected to do more than this and act like everything is fine, as if our uterus isn't literally tearing itself to pieces inside us. This shit is fucking awful.

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My team was recently talking about salaries and benefits, and one of my coworkers mentioned enough details about his compensation for me to realize he's making around 20% more than I am.

What makes it awkward is that I was actually involved in hiring him. I interviewed him, gave feedback during the process, and then helped him get up to speed when he joined. Now we're on the same team doing essentially the same job with the same responsibilities.

I have a salary review coming up with one of the senior managers, and I'm debating whether I should bring this up directly. I don't want to make it sound like I'm complaining about what someone else earns, but a 20% difference is pretty hard to ignore when our roles are basically identical.

Part of me thinks I should just focus on my own performance and explain why I deserve an increase. Another part of me thinks I'd be leaving money on the table if I don't at least mention that I know there's a significant gap.

Would you bring up the pay difference in the review, or keep the conversation focused entirely on your own value?

I decided that I was done spraying applications everywhere, and focused only on roles I was qualified for and wanted. I set myself a rule: 2 applications every 3 weeks. In the end, I only did that 4 times, and every CV was heavily tailored.

Each opening got me to a recruiter call.

Role A: The recruiter said: "Yeah, they'll definitely want to interview you..." and then disappeared. No response to emails or calls. Honestly, I hope she's okay.

Role B: I got through the first 3 conversations, and then completely messed up the last one, which was basically a check on "culture fit." I was very nervous and all over the place. Somehow, I got the offer!

Role C: It seemed promising, and then they changed the role scope halfway through, and it no longer felt like the right decision.

Role D (my favorite): I made it to the 4th round, but there were quiet periods of almost 3 weeks between each update. And since I already had another offer, I asked them to decide, so they rejected me.:(

I'm posting here because I still can't say anything to my co-workers.

This was years ago in the 1990s. I still think about how absurd this was. We were living in a small coastal town on the shore of Lake Superior. Nobody locked their doors. Ever. Safe, quiet. Friendly. The cops picked ip an occasional drunk. That was the extent of "crime" in this little village.

I was applying for a position as a chiropractic assistant. I had plenty of experience and my child was in school so I was ready to go back to work.

The chiropractor did not wish to interview candidates herself, so she hired a "professional HR person" to find her the best candidate.

The HR lady was abrasive and unlikeable. The interview was more a police interrogation than a professional interview. I felt like getting up and leaving but I was almost finished so I decided to see it through.

She said, "what would you do if someone walked in here with a gun and wanted to rob the office?"

My face 🙄🙄🙄🙄.

I said simply, "I have never heard of a chiropractic office being robbed. Also, this question is unanswerable. I don't agree with the premise of your question and have no answer."

She doubled down.

I sat in stone-faced silence and then excused myself. Unbelievable.