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Interviewers: show you care, at least fake it…

I had a nightmare interview on Thursday. After a great screening call with the recruiter, I was sent to the next round.

The interviewer didn’t know my name, didn’t have my resume pulled up, and took the interview FROM HIS CAR. He joined 5 minutes late and said he had an emergency… my guess it that he just forgot about it and he begrudgingly joined.

Right off the bat, he seemed irritated. He started with “I’m just going to ask you some standard questions, what interests you about the company? What do you know about this space?”

After I answered he seemed distracted the whole time. Like he wasn’t even recording my answers, rather he was messaging people on teams.

I tried to inject some jokes and provide some levity because I wasn’t really receiving those warm vibes, so me, being the social fucking butterfly that I am, was busting a smile and really trying to show genuine interest, spoke to how my background fits and why I am looking forward to this new chapter.

It was all ho hum. He barely got into the job at all, or what it entails - and mind you, this would be my boss - we just talked about web3 for a bit and he then said (and I kid you not) 10 minutes into the interview “what questions do you have for me?” So the resulting 30 minutes would be me trying to ask questions to him about what the fuck even are the expectations. And I am angling questions from the high level and low level and every response he gave it seemed like he was just phoning it in.

I asked him why he transitioned out of a lucrative career in cybersecurity to do business development and he was like “yeah I hated staring at a computer screen all day and wanted to talk to people more”. And I am thinking bud you got the personality of a soiled diaper and a RBF like a pitbull swallowed a hornet.

About 10 mins into my questions, he said “oh shit I have an important emergency on teams, I gotta go, thank you and I’ll put you through to the next round” and a hasty goodbye.

Today I received an automated rejection email and I’m like what the fuck? But at the same time I probably dodged a bullet.

This whole game sucks and I don’t want to play anymore.

I had a nightmare interview on Thursday. After a great screening call with the recruiter, I was sent to the next round.

The interviewer didn’t know my name, didn’t have my resume pulled up, and took the interview FROM HIS CAR. He joined 5 minutes late and said he had an emergency… my guess it that he just forgot about it and he begrudgingly joined.

Right off the bat, he seemed irritated. He started with “I’m just going to ask you some standard questions, what interests you about the company? What do you know about this space?”

After I answered he seemed distracted the whole time. Like he wasn’t even recording my answers, rather he was messaging people on teams.

I tried to inject some jokes and provide some levity because I wasn’t really receiving those warm vibes, so me, being the social fucking butterfly that I am, was busting a smile and really trying to show genuine interest, spoke to how my background fits and why I am looking forward to this new chapter.

It was all ho hum. He barely got into the job at all, or what it entails - and mind you, this would be my boss - we just talked about web3 for a bit and he then said (and I kid you not) 10 minutes into the interview “what questions do you have for me?” So the resulting 30 minutes would be me trying to ask questions to him about what the fuck even are the expectations. And I am angling questions from the high level and low level and every response he gave it seemed like he was just phoning it in.

I asked him why he transitioned out of a lucrative career in cybersecurity to do business development and he was like “yeah I hated staring at a computer screen all day and wanted to talk to people more”. And I am thinking bud you got the personality of a soiled diaper and a RBF like a pitbull swallowed a hornet.

About 10 mins into my questions, he said “oh shit I have an important emergency on teams, I gotta go, thank you and I’ll put you through to the next round” and a hasty goodbye.

Today I received an automated rejection email and I’m like what the fuck? But at the same time I probably dodged a bullet.

This whole game sucks and I don’t want to play anymore.

Hey all, I got laid off from my job in October… I am 33 now and my partner who I was engaged to broke it off because she saw no future with me. The job market is horrible and my field is seemingly dying (software product management). I lost my career and my savings and am plagued with chronic back pain that I’m trying to deal with on state assistance. No, I’m not able to live with relatives and I’m not going to get into it.

Everything is uncertain. My stepmom got my dad’s house and I didn’t get any inheritance and I can’t seem to find a stable job even at fast food.

Maybe I just want to know things will be okay. Should I just abandon my goal of settling down and having a family? I’m getting way too old. Even if I have kids at 35 I’m gonna be 50 by the time they are 15 and I’ll just feel like an old man. Is this irrational?

So sorry if I’m rambling.

Package handler $19/hr with benefits. Still is paycheck-to-paycheck wage here in north jersey…

And yes, before you tell me, I know, I know, I should be grateful. It’s income, it’s something. The problem is. I have herniated discs in my back and out of desperation for money I didn’t disclose it, and will suck up the pain to make money right now.

I still can’t help but feel I miss my old career as a software product manager. I’ve surmised that’s probably a pipe dream at this point in this market. Not to mention there’s thousands of applicants and companies are frothing for vibe-builders disguised as PMs and I am just so over it. I am lost and now this new job will be full time, so it won’t give me a ton of time to interview or prep. Not sure where the future will take me, but hey, I guess there’s some hope if you’re willing to lower your expectations to zero.

So many people on my feed that say they are building something awesome, they’re the CEO and Founder of their own company, they have these brands apparently and they speak and do all this work to help businesses maximize their shareholder value blah blah blah…

Then “I’m beyond honored” “I’m so proud” “I’m ecstatic” “…to join this great company” and blast a LinkedIn announcement like… uh, if everything was going great with your little business venture why are you going into a company as a FTE? Why downgrade yourself? Don’t you have all the freedom and autonomy you want from your hustle and grind startup?

Or is it that you might be finally willing to admit it was smoke and mirrors? Your app sucks and is vibe-coded, has next to no adopters and doesn’t solve any new problem in the market. Your whole business persona is built upon a house of cards and you’re in the applicant pool like everyone else pining for an offer whilst still projecting like you’re a hotshot founder who has all the answers on your LinkedIn profile?

You like your little glass room, gated off from the other peasants all sat nicely side-by-side on a long desk. Close the door, review a couple spreadsheets and drag cute little pie charts into your PowerPoint.

Remote work changed the relationship people had with work. It was no longer the toxic ball-and-chain that you spent collectively 500 hours a year commuting back and forth to 2000 hours of fluorescent lights and perks like shitty pizza and pool tables you couldn’t even use until after work hours.

Same and rational people realized you could get your work done, and better, without chatting with Kathy in accounting in the kitchen about her son’s baseball game for 30 minutes. Online, the meeting ends when it ends, and I put my do not disturb on, and I’m more productive than walking around the office chatting with different people wondering why the hell I never have time to get my goddamn work done.

Boomer CEO: “we need AI! Invest in new tech!” The tech is right in front of you. You embrace tech but won’t allow tech to actually enhance the work life balance of your employees? How tech-forward are you, really? Or are you just keeping up with appearances?

They lack trust in the teams doing the all the real work. And the teams on the ground see omnipresent authority and control as anti-trust. We all see behind your insufferable fake smile and male pattern baldness.

By the summer I’ll be fully out of any cash or 401k. No place to live after my lease is up. Literally closing in on 1000 apps milestone since October. Applications to even dead end jobs have not yielded any results, which blows my fucking mind (not qualified to wash cars!?). I’ve even swallowed my pride and personally handed out resumes at retail stores to the managers, who gave me weird looks and yeah maybe it’s cringe but goddamn if I’m not trying even if I’m embarrassed as hell.

Do we need to resort to being homeless? A life of crime?

What happens now? Seriously. I’m 33 and alone. I’ve accepted my career in software PM is over, but I have no idea what to even do, dude. Everything I try comes up short. I’m scared as fuck.

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