Lessons Learned: The Worst Interviewing Experience I've Ever Encountered (part 2)
This is a continuation of my previous post and will touch on what I learned and realized in the midst of my terrible interviewing experience. For those who skipped the first part of the story, let me summarize it briefly for you: it sucked. Skim the headlines, look at the screenshots, and you'll see why. Whenever I face a difficult situation, whether it be professionally or personally, I always like to look back and think of what I learned from the experience. In fact, I'm actually GLAD that I had such a traumatic experience with this company, because it taught me a lot about what I personally look for when evaluating new opportunities. Remember that a job search takes a tremendous amount of soul searching, especially if you are just starting out and/or looking to change careers.
Here are a few takeaways from what I learned:
Trust your gut: I wasted so much time with this company, and it caused me so much unnecessary stress. I knew from the beginning that timing wasn't perfect and I was very forgiving with all the red flags. In retrospect, just like a bad abusive relationship, I should have ended things earlier. Don't ignore the voice in the back of your head.
You deserve to be respected, even as a candidate: Even though I was interacting with the CEO, that is not an excuse for being treated poorly in the process. It is not typical for candidates to need to jump through so many hoops; this is not a sorority/fraternity hazing process. Seeing how poorly I was treated as a candidate indicated to me that the company and role was not a good fit after all.
Use the interviewing process as a gage and reflection of how the company functions: Your interviewing experience is a thin slice into a glimpse of how the organization works. Was it disorganized? Did it seem like they knew what they were doing or looking for? How did your future manager treat you or make you feel? Take that as a sign. If the CEO/your interviewer/your future manager makes you feel bad as a candidate, imagine how you'd feel as a full time employee!
Remember there are other options! Especially if you are just browsing around, keep your options open and try not to feel married to an opportunity. If you make it to the onsite stage, the company is already seriously interested in you as a candidate. Companies need to remember than an interview goes both ways: we are evaluating them as much as they are evaluating us. Stand your ground, and know your worth!
If they pass interest, move on: In the dating world, once someone breaks up with you, it's hard to take them back (and common advice that you don't take them back). Same should go for companies. I was stupid for taking the company back after initially getting rejected. They didn't want me in the first place, and I should have stuck with that.
Do you believe in the mission of the company and in the leadership team: Even though the company had great traction and growth, I had to really ask myself if the product would be sustainable down the line. It was a cool idea, but will it be around in 5 years or is it just a craze? I also asked the CEO why he was in this business, and he explained that this industry has high profit margins. He didn't talk about how the product helps empower a certain demographic of people (even though that's what the mission statement was about); he just focused on the money, and to me, that was a huge disappointment.
Be mindful of your time: I don't believe that any company really needs to hold onto a candidate for more than 2 months, especially if it's a small environment. It shouldn't take a company too long to decide "yes" or "no" on a candidate. The few scenarios where I can see this happening, is if 1) the company wants to keep looking around 2) company has absolutely no idea what they are doing or 3) the role is still so unstructured and they have no idea what they are looking for. All bad options (are you sure you'd want to work at a company like that?). There may be a few exceptions to when waiting 2+ months is acceptable, like Google, but people still hella complain about their interviewing process.
After considering all the points above, it all became much clearer to me. In the wise words of Sweet Brown: Aint nobody got time for that. I have bigger and better things to pursue.