An agency set up a remote software interview for 5 PM, with only a 15-minute slot. They wanted a quick answer about whether I could attend.

The interviewer kept their camera off on Teams. They asked very few technical questions. Most of the conversation was about where I lived and pay.

Earlier, I'd heard a salary range of $120K to $130K. On the call, they described $120K base plus $12K a year in variable pay, paid every three months. They said people usually received 70% to 90% of the variable part. I didn't understand how that worked and asked them to explain it in writing.

Then they asked me to show photo ID on camera. They said I could cover everything except my name and photo. I refused, and the call ended.

Several calls came soon after, asking why I wouldn't show ID.

On the next call, a recruiter spoke with me, then a coworker joined. The coworker offered to forward a copy of my driver's license to the client. I refused and said I'd only share ID through a background check.

Another coworker called later. They said a recording of me showing ID would prove to the client who had taken the interview. They offered to have me show it to the agency over Teams instead. I refused again. They said they'd tell the client and wouldn't push it.

I didn't show or send my ID. The invite showed a company email domain, but I haven't independently verified who was behind the call. I don't know whether this was a scam or a hiring process I'm uncomfortable with.

I also reported the recruiter on LinkedIn under "Fraud or scam" after these calls.

Has anyone else had recruiters keep calling about photo ID after you refused during an interview? How would you check that the request really came from the company without showing or sending your ID first?

Most people read a keyword scanner backwards. They see the missing list and start stuffing terms into a skills block. You end up with a resume that matches the posting and says nothing true.

A missing keyword is a question, not an order. Ask whether you have the skill and just word it differently, say "CRM" when you named the platform, or whether you don't have it at all. If it's the first, use the posting's wording inside the bullet where you did the work. If it's the second, leave it off. A missing certification stays missing no matter how many times you type it.

Before you rewrite anything, paste your resume into a plain text editor. Multi-column layouts, tables, text boxes and anything in a header or footer can get scrambled or dropped, and then the scanner reports a gap that isn't real. Fix the layout, not the content.

If two scanners disagree, don't average them. One wants exact phrases, another takes synonyms, and their term lists differ. Check each disputed term against the posting. Required beats preferred beats a passing mention. The score is vocabulary overlap, nothing more and no ATS publishes a pass mark.

Role keyword guides such as https://www.zoevera.com/resume/keywords for ideas, but the posting you're applying to decides what matters.

I got a verbal offer and misunderstood the number as PLUS bonus instead of with Bonus, when I got the written one and sent an email for clarification, and tried to negotiate( went up higher than I number I thought was plus bonus) so essentially overshot.
It’s a small company, and the manager got upset and are now playing hardball saying they have other interviews set up and will let me know what they decide.
Has this happened to anyone? Isn’t it absurd that someone would get upset for a candidate trying to negotiate? Maybe I overshot but just say, no that is our max offer… am I wrong?

I’ve had a couple of interviews with a company recently. Both seemed to have gone well. I got a call from the VP the other day inviting me out to a happy hour with a couple of account executives. The VP can’t make it so it will be just the three of us. I’ve never done this during an interview process and I doubt they do this with every candidate. Is this normal? I know how to act normal in social settings like this but is there anything I should be aware of?

"Interview" in quotes cause this was barely one. I didn't specifically apply to this bank, I just sent my cv to a friend, and someone from the bank called about receiving the cv.

They recommended I apply for role X, I just got out of college, no idea what role X is, so they said to meet them to discuss the role, and set a meeting for only a little over an hour later. You can call me naive for this but in my head, this is too fast to be a set up for an interview, so I was absolutely unprepared.

Anyways, once I got there, I absolutely bombed this "interview". But one of the questions hasn't left my mind since is "If you get the job, can you get your friends and family to open accounts and deposit money to the bank?"??. I mean, the role is basically a sale position so I understand finding customers and getting them to use banking services. But why specifically ask about my friends and family? They even ask how much can a person "give" in "support" of my "new job" 💀? Is this at all normal or am I just super naive rn?

I had my final in person interview for a hospital provider position on 10/6. I already knew the lead advanced practice provider (APP) and most of the team members from my clinical rotation last year, so it was overall great vibes.

Was told at the end of the interview that HR will reach out the following week. The lead APP emailed me 2 hours after the interview sending me benefits info. Emailed them back thanking them.

I followed up with the lead APP on 10/16 asking for an update bc so far I have not been in contact with HR at all. So far no response and its almost been a week.

I know that anything after 2 weeks is probably rejection but I feel like I would have gotten this position having known the APP and he even said he talked to my school’s director about how I was interviewing with them.

This might not be important but thought i would add that on Workday my status is still “in progress” and the listing is still up from like 2 months ago lol.

I plan on following up again, but how do I follow up to a follow up email without sounding like an annoying person? Please help me!

I applied to a job end of August and thought my application was ignored. Two weeks later a hiring manager reached out instead of a recruiter and setup a screening call with me. They mentioned after the call that they have other candidates to talk to so I was expecting a long wait time but a day after they told me that they want to do a formal interview with me. Did the formal interview and at the end, they mentioned again that they just have a few more candidates to talk to and they are looking to make a decision quickly and I should know if I get the offer by end of next week. Had anyone experienced a quick timeline like this before? Or is this concerning

Should I stick to something brief like "I'm so excited to meet you" and leave it at that, then let the interviewer respond and see where the conversation flows from there? Or maybe mention something non-work related or crack a joke?

I'm wondering when is a good time during the interview to show (not just tell) that we're looking forward to getting to know them and establish rapport that way.

I interviewed for a job about 6 weeks ago and have not heard back from them. No contact saying I was unsuccessful or successful.

I get that 6 weeks probably means I didn't get the job, but not getting an email saying I didn't get the job is pretty poor in my opinion. I have rang the recruitment contact person twice and left messages. Still nothing.

It is a very big, well known Australian company. Is this a common thing?

I interviewed for a lesser job and got told I didn’t get it. A few days after I had a call saying they’d like me in for a chat about the job above.

I went in a little bit confused, got there had a cup of tea with the ops manager and was offered the job.

£25k pay rise and the job I’ve been working towards most of my life, couldn’t believe it.

In the past 5 years I’ve easily had 15+ interviews, the first ones were terrible looking back. Now if I have an interview I’m not nervous anymore, you just have to think I’m either going to get this or not. I used to get so worked up and nervous that it would affect the interview.

My advice would be to interview at as many places that you can/want, if you don’t get the job you’ve got that experience for next time. Also by interviewing for a similar job multiple times, you get to know all the questions they tend to ask. After a few interviews it’s easy.

I have a notebook of all the questions I didn’t know from interviews, then read these before new interviews. They’re 99% of the questions I got asked.

Perseverance is key!!!!

Good luck everyone.

I just had my first interview in awhile with the person who would be my direct supervisor and another senior member on the team (no recruiter, nor HR stage). I feel like I was solid—although they were pretty guarded, but very nice. We did the full 30 mins as scheduled and the HR lady escorted me out and told me I’d hear back about next steps “in a few weeks.” I know I was one of the first applicants and they reached out a week after I had submitted and scheduled this first round quickly. I think I’m coping with that since they basically gave me no clear follow up or timeline.. and that’s never a great sign.

I’m trying to make a career transition (from a sector they were both previously in) and most of our discussion focused on that and I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. FWIW, the role itself and my experience are undoubtedly a solid match but I’m not sure if I sold myself well enough or dwelled too much on my career pivot.

Anyway, just a rant. I’m sure many can relate and I’m still applying and interviewing of course. Would love to hear your recent success stories (or frustrations)!

ETA: it was in person so that was nice! I do prefer that over Zoom or phone calls.

I recently got invited for a final onsite interview where the company is flying me out to HQ to conduct it in person. I've only ever done interviews virtually, is there anything I should know / prepare specifically ahead of time, or any tips for in person interviews?

I just did the second interview for a job that I really want and I think I bombed big time.

The first interview was a phone screening and I absolutely nailed it... no idea how as I was also sick with the flu at the time.

The second interview was on Zoom, with a panel of five people. They sent me the list of ten questions fifteen minutes beforehand, so I printed them out and wrote down some notes for answers.

The interview, for which they had allotted One Hour, took THIRTY MINUTES, including the three questions that I had for the panel 😭 Maybe it was the prepared responses? I'm a pretty think-on-my-feet speaker, and it's worked well for me in the past. But I was also so nervous that when I tried to expand too far beyond my notes I could tell that I was just rambling. I think I sounded like an absolute fool and I'm really frustrated with myself because I know I am very qualified for the role.

The third and final interview is with the top two candidates... I don't have a lot of faith that I'm getting a call back LMAO.

Anyways. A vent post I guess, I'm a year into my job search and I'm starting to lose my mind. Every time I think I find the perfect job for me I mess it up </3

I interviewed for a position where I would be doing the exact same thing I’m doing now, just a different location closer to home.

I know a few people that currently work there and I ended up getting an interview with the Executive Director. The interview went really well, she seemed impressed and said I’m exactly what she’s looking for multiple times and told me that she wanted to book me for another interview to meet the rest of the team.

It’s been over 2 weeks and I haven’t heard anything back. I emailed her early last week and nothing. I finally messaged a friend that works there and she said she picked someone else. I’m so devastated, this would’ve been a great location for me and way better environment than my current workplace. It’s crazy going from a possible guaranteed position to being ghosted with no feedback. Very unprofessional.

I’m in HR myself and I would NEVER ghost a candidate, especially for a management position. Anyone else go through something similar?

Hello, I (31M) currently work in an outdoor boutique resort, so over my employment, I grew out my hair to shoulder length because it’s easier to work with. I have a Zoom interview for a position at a local college, and I was wondering the best way for me to present my hair for the interview to have the best chances? Should I tie it completely back? Leave it flowy but styled? Or does it really not matter and I’m overthinking everything?

Thank you in advance.

Also, I’m not cutting my hair down. My wife likes it too much.

I’m currently going through recruiting hell and so have being doing a lot of interviews. Even if I think an interview has gone somewhat well I always ending up crying or going ‘nonverbal’ after every one. I just end up shutting down and I can’t physically do anything else the rest of the day.

I have autism and ADHD but I am a good worker. I have good experiences working in the creative and media industries and haven’t had any issues at my jobs so far. It’s just specifically interviews that feel so exhausting.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if I take so long to recover after an interview. It’s putting me off applying as often as I can and I really need a job. I’m not even sure what’s happening but I think it’s probably something to do with excessive masking.

Does anyone else neurodivergent have any advice? How do you not spend 100% of your energy during an interview?

I prepped for like 2 weeks for what I thought was an introductory call for an internship position for an IT role. Won't say which one.

I was scheduled an introductory call with someone from a really prestigious IT company.

The teams-for-linux app would not let me join so I settled for the web version. The interviewer joined but could not hear me so we settled for a phone interview.

The whole talk was awkward as they asked if I was aware that the location for the role was in [location down south, far from where I live], and asked whether I was comfortable relocating. I wasn't expecting this, so I mentioned that the advert listed multiple locations and that I preferred [location closer to where I lived].

They asked for my previous work experience, and I was confused as to whether they wanted my project experience or my work experience, and I told of the ones I worked during the summer (standard warehouse job), and then switched to my personal projects, which took a WHILE to detail, and they were like okaay.

There were a lot of pauses. The entire thing was so awkward, as this was the first online interview I've done since applying for university, and before that there were none. I stammered and blanked out a lot, and the black coffee I drank prior was making me a bit hyper. I very rarely drink coffee. I only drink coffee for special occasions like this.

Then they were like "Are you aware that this interview is for the full-time position for [role]? What were the contents of the email I sent you?". I paused, and opened my gmail, and I read the full email and was like oh no. I then apologised profusely, stammering whilst I did it, and I mentioned that I thought the introductory interview was for [role] but the internship one, not the full-time one (I had forgotten that I also applied for the full-time one, alongside the internship one) but they were super chill about it.

They told me I should check their website and apply for the internship one there, and I replied that I already have. They said that if I have not heard anything back from the internship role by like next week (I can't remember if they said next week), that I can send the person an email asking for an update and they will relay the message to the people responsible. The whole call took like 3-4 minutes. After the call ended I walked around the room cursing at myself for MINUTES, only to realise I had not left the teams call, and my camera and audio were still enabled, which means someone could've caught me self-ranting.

I'm afraid they will probably relay to the internship recruiters to blacklist me or something. I sent in my internship application immediately the very same day the advert was posted on their website, which was like 2-3 weeks prior. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not even sure which role I sent my cover letter to... I had written 2 of them, and the internship one was a pretty passionately-written CL.

Super embarrassed overall. I sounded as though English wasn't my first language, which sucks, cause the projects I've done correlate heavily with the specific internship role they have on offer. Like, I know I'm a great worker, I'm just not verbally expressive, which ik is a red flag, cause team work is a must in this field. I'm still cringing about it. God, it was super awkward.

Back in July, I applied to an Andheri-based company through Internshala. They rescheduled my interview twice. When it finally happened, the so-called technical interview was mostly a discussion about my resume. The interviewer ended with, "We'll get back to you." I moved on.

Recently, something similar happened with another company I found through a verified platform.

An HR contacted me two days before my birthday and asked if I was available between 1 and 3. After clarifying the date, I said I'd be available after the following two days. On the agreed date, I was ready at 1 PM and had received the Google Meet link. HR then apologised for the inconvenience and asked if we could move the interview to the next day at 1 PM. I agreed.

This is the third time I've experienced something like this, so I want to understand the expectations here.

My questions are:

• Was I wrong to ask for a different date because it was my birthday?
• Are candidates expected to put personal plans aside for interviews, even when companies reschedule at their convenience?
• Is rescheduling viewed negatively in the Indian IT industry, even when you communicate your availability in advance?
• Do candidates need to claim they have diarrhoea, dengue, tuberculosis (TB), or some other illness to justify being unavailable? Is giving a genuine scheduling conflict not enough?

I want practical answers from people who have experienced the Indian IT hiring process.

I'm not asking for sympathy or generic career advice. I'd appreciate honest, practical perspectives from recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates who have dealt with similar situations.