u/Horror-Fun3427

The first call was with the recruiter (Internal recruitment team, talent acquisition lead, about 45 minutes)

The second was with the hiring manager. And after that, the manager's manager (Supply Chain Head)

Then, if you can believe it, this Supply Chain Head said I needed to prepare a deck about what I would add to the department... And the team would review it to judge the kind of impact I was promising.

The deck was supposed to cover how I would reduce spend, improve supplier performance, and build a procurement framework... And this wasn't something quick that could be done in 30 minutes. It would have taken me several nights to put it together properly, especially since I already have a job.

I told him I wasn't interested. If after 4 conversations you still can't decide, then I'm not going to give you any more free work.

For a moment, I wondered if maybe I hadn't explained my experience clearly enough during the interviews. Maybe I didn't showcase my skills as well as I could have, and that's why they were still hesitant. But then I realized that a hiring process should be a two-way evaluation.

I regret not using tools like InterviewMan in the interview. Many of my friends told me that it helped them organize their answers, communicate their achievements more clearly, and walk into interviews with a lot more confidence.

Why do some companies act like they're doing you a huge favor by interviewing you?

haha

In short, I (M21) was fired from my full-time job because I asked for 10 days off from my paid leave balance to study for finals. This happened about 3 weeks ago.

Honestly, I was very lucky and got an offer and interview faster than I expected. The initial call went much more smoothly than I thought. The follow-up round was technical, so I tried the Interviewman AI tool that I had been seeing advertised a lot in the App Store. Honestly, it was surprisingly good. It picked up the interviewer's questions and gave me quick, organized answers that sounded professional without seeming awkward. I'm still waiting to hear back from them, but then suddenly something unexpected happened...

I found a message from my old boss telling me to come back to work as usual, and that he'll approve the leave too.

Honestly, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. When I first asked for the leave, he refused immediately. He told me there was a lot of work piled up and that he wouldn't be able to keep things running without me being there.

I should also mention that we had a new guy in our department who had only been there for about 3 weeks, and he asked for around 9 days off to go to his cousin's wedding. My manager approved it for him without any problem.

Now if I go back, I'll probably find about 5 weeks of piled-up work waiting for me because he fired me, and the other guy is still on his leave. I don't even know what to reply to him with.