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Interview with Recruiter did not match the Hiring Manager?

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Interview with Recruiter did not match the Hiring Manager?

I, like many people on here, am unemployed and have been looking for a job for about 4 months now. So, I decided to learn coding, since, well, I've got nothing better to do, right?

Luckily, I got an interview for a semi-technical (some light coding, but not a developer) role. The interview with the recruiter went pretty well, but there was an emphasis on my (lack of) coding experience. But I was moved forward to the hiring manager regardless.

So before the hiring manager interview, I spent a lot of extra hours practicing, watching mock technical interviews on YouTube, and studying coding. When I got to the hiring manager I started talking about the coding language, and my experience, and she quite literally cut me off with "Oh, I have no idea what you're talking about. Coding? That's not me."

Um, what? So, I felt completely blindsided. First I was made to feel unqualified by the recruiter. Then I wasted time getting ready to answer technical questions when I really didn't need to. And worst of all, I didn't get the job.

My question is, should I let the recruiter know how off they were about the requirements for this job? Or should I just say "thanks for your time" and move on?

Thanks for your time.

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  1. Sujata Singh

    I think you should share your experience with them as feedback so they won't do this again with anyone else.

  2. Anonymous

    Did the recruiter share with you a job description for the role or the specifics about what the job entailed? If not, please ask for that for future reference. Also, given that you were moved on to the hiring manager, they likely have seen your resume and your experience. Why did you start talking about coding language unprompted? I feel like, yes, please follow up with the recruiter and let them know that the job you were presented for did not match what you and the recruiter discussed. But also, I feel like you may have been so gung-ho on the whole coding thing that maybe you missed something with the hiring manager.

  3. Anonymous

    I agree with the other reply that you should have waited for the interviewer to prompt you and follow their lead. In my first career, I was in IT for 25 years, and many hiring and line manager/director-level people couldn't code their way out of a paper bag. Others were highly technical and would give a potential employee a quiz on coding a specific sequence or query. It is always best to follow the lead of the person interviewing you. It shows them you are willing to listen and follow directions. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. Following up with the recruiter on their "opinions" and tactics is optional.

  4. Anonymous

    The fault is on your side. While interviews are definitely a 2-way street the recruiter did their screening which they likely were asked to do by the hiring manager, the recruiter was just doing their job, they are a filter. Usually the HM decides what the minimum criteria is for this. Once you made it past that you should have let the HM guide you in their questions and focused on what they wanted, they are the decision maker, no one else. It is also likely that the HM is not technical as they are on a leadership track and that usually means they lack hands-on but might manage those who do. If you made it to the net rung you might have gone into a technical screening. Also you should have asked the recruiter if the HM interview was going to be a technical one. In your first screening call for your next set of interviews ask this: What are the interview steps to get to a hire. How many steps? Is there a technical screening and who does that?

    I would suspect that your recent education is perhaps tainting you in the process because you want to share these newfound skills with the hiring team BUT wait to be asked to that dance vs. just breaking into the steps before you know what the dance is.

    Prep for interviews is hard when you don't know what you don't know. The best prep is knowing about the company, the role itself, asking the right questions about why it is open and what success looks like in the role. Move on, learn from this and know there is another perfect role for you down the path.

  5. Anonymous

    Actually, you are incorrect. The next steps of the interview process would have been 2 technical reviews with whiteboarding, so it would have made sense to pre-emptively talk about the coding in the context of the interview with the HM, considering they said they were going to test me on it on the spot in the next 2 interviews.

    Sorry I didn't feel the need to explain that, but I guess everyone's bandwagoning on how it's my fault, when obviously the HM didn't clarify the skillset she needed for this role.

    I got a much better job offer elsewhere at a company that knows what they want now, so thanks everyone for your non-advice.

  6. Anonymous

    Way to be snippy there! I'm glad you found a great new role but my advice was sound and detailed about getting the information up front. I still maintain that blaming others and not owning your part is not the best way to rise above this, you and others stand to learn something from this experience, I hope you have.

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