“Too good for the work. You have good experience but we think you’ll excel in some other company in same domain company” 
  
 Little context: Wanted to change my field but i was over qualified according to HR😂 
 Please note they were giving high salary than my previous employer.

Lawyer

Operations Manager

I got rejected saying you are very skilled and wouldn’t be staying for more than an year. (This i never said they just assumed i wouldn’t stay for more than a year) i didn’t knew if i should be happy or sad.

Can you give weird reason(s) you got rejected from a job interview?  I’ll go first, you changed job x times and have a year gap in college

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Can you give weird reason(s) you got rejected from a job interview?

I’ll go first, you changed job x times and have a year gap in college

Interview rejection reason?

Interview rejection reason?- Grapevine

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

People who have had career breaks and joined back the work force. Share your stories

Career breaks

Project Manager

[TL;DR former National quiz champion(covered on TV and newspapers)dropped out of B. Tech in 2020 during peak of addiction and depression . Got over it and sober in Jan'23, resumed college and completed my B. Tech in Feb'24. Picked up coding again and feel ready for a job now Should I be honest or lie about the gap? Been ghosted my few recruiters whom I was honest with.]

JS developer here. I used to be a decent student, public speaker and one of the best quizzers in the college scene. Made it to TV shows and featured in newspapers articles. But I never addressed some traumatic events that took place in my life before I turned 16. My depression took refuge in substance abuse and I abandoned all studies/career prospects during the pandemic. Eventually after 7 years of using, I got clean/sober in Jan'23 and resumed my studies. I earned my degree but on paper it took me 8 years to complete a 4 year B. Tech (2016-24).

Reasonably I get asked about the gap in my academics by hr/recruiters whom I push my CV to. I've been dead honest to them about my struggles with mental health and addiction in the past. And I've been getting ghosted. (It could be because of skill reasons on my part but I'm not even getting a feedback).

Should I not tell recruiters the truth about the gap? Should I leave the addiction bit out? How should I word it? I've never held a real coding job before but been slogging for the last 6 months to get better each day (my github and projects will reflect that). Please help me out with all your valuable suggestions. If you're a tech recruiter let me know how you would perceive my case.

Should I be honest about my past struggles of depression/addiction with recruiters while explaining the 4 year gap in my resume?

Welcome to IT Company Discussion's Private Community

Recently, I gave an interview at this early startup in Bangalore. It consisted of 5 rounds.
- The first four rounds were technical, design, and assignment rounds which went well. I answered all the questions fairly well and the interviewer was happy knowing the answer.

- The fifth round was with the CEO - Now this was the turning point. He was more concerned about my personal situation. He asked questions like, where I live, where is my hometown, if WFO is okay for me (I was working remotely in my current company ), and where is your dad ( I said he was no more and that turned off the CEO of a company), how will you keep my mother in BLR, why your mom not living with your siblings?. And I was like "WTF man".the only technical question he asked -> "Have you ever hacked a system in your recent days?". 😂😂

After wasting more than 14 hours in the process I received a rejection mail without any feedback.

Message to recruiter - if you are more concerned about the personal situation of the candidate, please conduct a preliminary round for that.

Got rejected because of personal situations.

Software Developer

Software Engineer

I have changed 2 jobs in last 3 years. What should be answer to the question for why are u looking for the change so frequently?

Why are you looking for the change?

Finance Operations

Will that leave a black mark on my profile for the rest of my career and will have to suffer due to that or is it completely fine?

Leaving company in 3 months

DevOps Engineer

I will go first, i have deleted my first company from my resume because even though i was very good at coding. They put me in a support project in graveyard shift.  I faked illness to get out of shift, and later on was removed and put in angular project. 

I moved on 6 months later to a good company as backend engineer but i really regret joining my 1st company.

When asked , I just say the work was not relevant to what i wanted.

Please share your experience too.

Have you deleted any experience from your resume ? Why and how do you explain the gap?

AI Engineer

I have a total of 2 years of experience and changed 3 companies in 2 years so I left my first organisation in 6 months because There was no personal growth in that team then been layoff from 2 organisations in a period of 1.5 years these layoffs were due to financial issues in company not any performance issue so now in interviews I was asked why you change company so quick how should I answer this question and how does this impact my impression

Interview Suggestion

Hey all, idk what's been happening recently but I'm not able to clear any interviews, ig I mess up in managerial type questions due to nervousness and then the whole thing goes down, it's been 2.5 years since I've been working but now I feel so demotivated that I've been thinking of leaving tech. Idk what's been happening, even the companies don't provide a good reason for rejection or at least a feedback on where I went wrong,

Not being able to clear interviews

I have seen hiring manager that they ask for one question always. Why did you switch many jobs and also why do you want to switch now? 

Do we really think managers are unaware to covid, recession and job market?  

What's your take and tell me more these experience...

In this era, Why do you want switch job?

Staff Engineer

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

I want to quit my job and take a break. 

I Have been contemplating to do the same for almost an year but decided not to do it. So many things have happened since then

1. Layoff wave started in india
2. Got married
3. Had to move back to bangalore from hometown

Reason I want to quit is I don't feel like working , feeling bored and work doesn't interest me that much. 

I want to take a break chill for a bit but don't have guts to do the same considering market conditions ( what if I don't get a job when I am back in the market😅) 

Please give any advice on how to tackle this situation or if someone has gone through the same, would love to hear your experience. 

Also how is the product hiring currently in India? 

PS:  I do have a good runway for 4-5 months considering all expenses but I am scared to take the step

How is the market currently for product managers?

Test Engineer

Product Manager

JS developer here. I used to be a decent student, public speaker and one of the best quizzers in the college scene (former National Champ). But I never addressed some traumatic events that took place in my life before I turned 16. My depression took refuge in substance abuse and I abandoned all studies/career prospects during the pandemic. Eventually after 7 years of using, I got clean/sober in Jan'23 and resumed my studies. I earned my degree but on paper it took me 8 years to complete a 4 year B. Tech (2016-24).

Reasonably I get asked about the gap in my academics by hr/recruiters whom I push my CV to. I've been dead honest to them about my struggles with mental health and addiction in the past. And I've been getting ghosted. (It could be because of skill reasons on my part but I'm not even getting a feedback).

Should I not tell recruiters the truth about the gap? Should I leave the addiction bit out? How should I word it? I've never held a real coding job before but been slogging for the last 6 months to get better each day (my github and projects will reflect that). Please help me out with all your valuable suggestions. If you're a tech recruiter let me know how you would perceive my case.🙏🥺

Should be honest about my past struggles of depression/addiction with recruiters when they ask me to explain the 4 year gap in my resume?

Just trying to make sure I'm not too childish in taking the decision. Will not quit unless I have another offer though.

Why did you quit your last job?

Account Manager

I see people switching jobs left and right but I am not able to land an interview only. I have a 3 YOE in good tech stack. Not sure where am I missing.

No interview calls

Recently, I interviewed a senior individual about their job hunting experience after 8 months, 50+ interviews, and interactions with 10+ companies. What they shared is quite eye-opening and worth sharing with my fellow Grapeviners to stay informed about the current market trends.

There's a concerning trend of false interviews or what some might call "candidate fishing." Companies seem dissatisfied with many candidates they encounter initially, leading to rejections for trivial reasons or minor interview slip-ups. This indicates an oversupply of candidates in the market.

Most companies have multiple candidates lined up for each job role, creating unnecessary backups. Consequently, last-minute job offer declines are not uncommon, even after successfully navigating through all interview rounds.

The interview process itself can be lengthy, ranging from one to two months, with interviews scheduled during weekends, late nights, and early mornings becoming more common.

Some common reasons for rejection include:

1. Diversity hiring concerns
2. Expectations of being a master of everything
3. Common interview formats with overwhelming ratios like 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1, putting candidates on the spot
4. Companies adopting a "Why should we not hire you?" mindset
5. Scrutiny over resume details, such as short job stints, despite ongoing industry layoffs
6. Negative assumptions about candidates from top tech companies (FAANG) looking for new roles
7. Rejections after multiple rounds (7-10 rounds) of interviews
8. Ghosting becoming a prevalent issue

If you're experiencing these challenges, remember that you're not alone. Many others are facing similar issues. Hang in there; the tide will eventually turn.

Job Market Reality Check

Hey there. Recently I got terminated from a big company due to performance issues according to them but I don't agree with them as I know what effort i have put in and what works I did there. If an interviewer ask a reason for leaving your last job, what should I say there?

Got terminated, but what to say on interview.

I completed my schooling 10 years back. Do companies think my good/bad marks then define me as an employee even now? Why do they still ask for it? Is it the same abroad or is it just Indian that whore for marks? Got rejected from most fintechs when identical profiles are getting selected.

Why should school marks matter even after 10 years?

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

Context: 10.5 YOE, Marketing lead. I've been looking for a switch since September last year. I'd seen signs of maybe my role or the company itself folding very early and knew 'twas time to bolt. But it's not that easy. Back then - 1 year in a startup meant hey not bad, people still spoke to you and considered your profile. These days, they treat you like Ebola if you've not had your ass stuck in the same place for 3-5 years. 

Anyway, so the majority of my time searching for jobs was the shitty Easy Apply or IIMJOBS premium account route. Suprise suprise. It doesn't work. But hey I was still employed and not nearly as motivated as someone who's unemployed. 

Cut to layoffs: Got laid off with my whole team and a huge chunk of other leaders. My first layoff, felt hilariously like the last day of school. To the org's credit they gave us 3 month severance, leave encashments and extra months for those who'd been there for 2 years+. In hindsight hearing the horror stories of 2k severance from Byju's. I'm grateful for the nice golden parachute I got. I'll be honest, it contributed heavily to my mental stability. I had time, I had leverage, I didn't have to run for the first shitty opportunity that came my way. 

The How I did it (why you struggled through the above stream of consciousness) 

- Wrote to 159 founders with one pagers to 35 of them with ideas on how i'd lead their marketing function. 5 replies. 3 interviews. 2 offers - didn't take em cuz they were super early stage or diff cities. This is immediately in month 1 so I've already started feeling icky about not getting great brands to have in my set. 
- Easy Applied to 768 (I ran a Gmail search, this is a real number) jobs. 99% no responses or you've been rejected. 
-Kept changing one letter on my Naukri.com profile, got me 6 calls, 3 interviews and 1 conversion 

I think theres a word limit to posts 🥲 following up as comments below.

Finally got a job (here's the do's and dont's)

Part 3 
  
 - Add HRs and hiring managers on LinkedIn, send them free ideas and strategies. Its ok if they steal them it meant they were great. One of them will refer you, remember you or hire you. 
 - Have a CV and a summary (half a page) that gets people excited about wanting to read the CV. Only areas of expertise and bullet points for results  
 - Don't put the OpentoWork filter on your LinkedIn DP. Its radioactive. I know people actively avoid those profiles. But make sure to keep open to work beacon on for recruiters. It pushes you ahead  
 - Dont post low effort i need a job because im laid off, i dont have money, copy pasted by millions on Linkedin. If you're gonna publically ask for a job, make sure that post has enuff of your skillset screaming for a potential hirer to want to explore more. Else you'll get velle gadhe typing CFBR 
 - Dont be anal or choosy about interviewing, i literally gave 35-50 in 3 months that culminated in 4 offers. Each one taught me something, heck ive spoken to startups with 7 peeps in it  
 - The only one that can negotiate CTC is the one that can walk away. When the offer i wanted finally came, my fixed went down a tad, but variable increased. The role was worth it so i didnt bother negotiating. Places i wasnt excited about - oh i quoted 30% hikes and got it at one place :p

Brand Marketing Manager

These job switch questions were already asked in first and second round as well and even by the HR. I think if everyone was convinced by my reasons then why the hell would I get rejected in the final round? If this was the problem then I wouldn't have worked hard for all the rounds . They should have rejected me in the first round itself if that was the only reason they wanted to reject me. Plus I asked for a CTC of 27 LPA. I have 5 yrs of experience. BCG HR said she doesn't have that budget. I laughed in my mind. How can the HR lie on the face even when they know that there are other companies ready to offer me more than even 27. They are like unfortunately we don't have the budget. After 3 days she called me again saying we will match your expectations. I don't understand why you would irritate a candidate by raising their hopes and then reject them. I think MBBs are overhyped. The leadership sucked. If BCG can't pay me 25-30 lpa then I think they have lost their game big time.

Have you guys interviewed at MBB companies and got rejected in the fourth round? Just because you had multiple switches? I recently interviewed at BCG and everything went well until the director saw I gave a valid reason for each switch.

Interview rejection reason?

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