r/interviewwoman

Maybe this is my own fault for buying into the hype on linkedin...but here goes.

I've been a faithful job hunter for about four months now - last two of them have been with cluely on the pro tier. It served me ok-ish for the first few screens, despite the lag and the weird overlay placement. I'm switching careers, so my resume is short and every word counts.

I switched up a bit this round - for behavioral I let cluely handle the live suggestions during the call. For a panel loop with three back-to-backs at a mid-stage saas company I figured I'd lean on it the whole way through. Open the overlay, line up my notes on the side, sling my resume into the profile and I should be good.

First test of the new system started last tuesday with a hr screen, then a hiring manager call, then a peer chat. First two went ok - small lag, suggestions were mostly fine, nothing crazy.... walked into the third call feeling alright and as the peer asks me about my last role the cluely overlay coughed up a paragraph about a project I led at a company I have literally never worked at.

Obviously I caught it before reading anything out loud, but it's not great, and I don't think it's unreasonable to be irritated and a little upset with whatever model they're routing this through - my resume was right there in the profile, I had pasted it in twice - not like I was asking it to make stuff up or some red bull fueled prompt engineering shit.

Anyway - I'll file screenshots and shit like that for the refund window when I get home, but meanwhile I've had to manually re-read every suggestion before opening my mouth like some kind of paranoid intern through the whole peer round, the take-home review, and now the last call on friday.

Thanks for letting me vent.

I've been working in recruiting for over ten years. We know you're not going to be 100% honest about everything. And honestly? We don't always care. There are things that are better left unsaid or... Said differently.

Think of the interview more like a first date than a court testimony. You're both trying to see if there's a match, and you're both presenting the best version of yourselves. It's a sales pitch, and the product is you. We expect a little bit of polishing. These are the things that we, as recruiters, know you're probably embellishing, and we're okay with it.

1. Your previous salary. Let's start with the most obvious one. The company's goal is to get the best talent at the best price. Your goal is to get the best salary for your skills. These two goals are in direct opposition. When we ask you what you were earning, we're trying to start the negotiation from a low number. Don't give us a number; talk about the salary range you're targeting for this new job, based on your skills and market value.

2. Why you really left your job. Never, ever speak badly about your old company, your manager, or your team. Even if it was a toxic place with endless problems. All we hear is negative energy and drama, and we'll assume you'll bring that with you here. The real reason might be that your manager was an annoying micromanager, but what we should hear from you is that you're 'looking for a role with more growth opportunities' or 'seeking a new challenge'.

3 - How you feel about your old manager. Look, we've all had nightmare bosses. It's a universal experience. But the interview is not the time for this therapy session. Complaining about a former manager is a huge red flag. It makes us wonder if you're the difficult one, who can't handle authority or feedback. Stay professional and neutral, always.

4 - Where you see yourself in 3-5 years. The classic question. We know you might want to take my job, start your own company, or be living on a beach in Costa Rica in a few years. We don't need to know your deep life plan. We just need to hear that you plan to stay with us long enough to make hiring you a good investment. Talk about wanting to master your role, take on more responsibilities, and grow with the company. That's the right answer, even if it's not the whole truth.

5 - How much credit you take for yourself. I see a lot of talented people downplay their achievements. They say things like, 'Well, it was a team effort,' which is nice, but it doesn't tell me anything about *your* specific contribution. Don't be shy. Frame it differently. Talk about the challenge the *team* faced, and then talk about the role *you* played in reaching the solution. 'I was responsible for X, which led to result Y for the team.' This shows you're a team player without erasing your personal value.

Look, it's not about being a liar. It's all about understanding the game. The interview is a performance where you're selling the best professional version of yourself.

Be confident, know your worth, and don't be afraid to tell your story in the best possible light. Someone out there needs exactly what you have to offer, so make it easy for them to see it.

The title pretty much explains everything, but I'm still in shock. I went through three rounds of interviews with this company and received the offer less than an hour after the final interview. I was ecstatic because the salary was a 50% increase from my last job.

I accepted immediately, put in my two weeks' notice, and filled out all the new hire paperwork from HR. I signed the official offer about a week and a half ago. Then three days ago - about ten days after I signed - I received a cold email. They said they were rescinding the offer due to 'internal restructuring and the position being eliminated.' They said they would keep my information on file. So generous of them.

I was completely devastated. I had literally just left my job. I begged my manager to see if I could stay, but she told me they had already processed my resignation and couldn't reverse the decision. So now I'm without a job, without a paycheck, without anything, all because this company bailed on me at the last minute.

I went on Glassdoor and wrote a very honest review explaining exactly what happened and how they left me unemployed. Yesterday morning, I got an email from their HR asking me to delete the review because it's 'damaging their image.' Honestly, I don't feel guilty at all. They're the ones who put me in this mess.

I'll start job hunting again, but instead of the common ways, I'll change a bit and apply every word mentioned in this post as I need a job urgently. I don't have time to waste.

weird question for the macos people.

im on a macbook pro m2, job hunting, like 4 interview calls a week. im sure some of you have seen the ai "helper" apps that pipe answers to you during a call. ppl on r/cscareerquestions keep bragging about one on windows. i wanted the same thing on mac. that turned out to be a much harder ask than i thought.

the stuff i tried was bad. like. bad bad.

first one was a chrome extension. you can see where this is going. did a mock practice call, the practice partner said "share your screen for a sec", and literally the tab icon was right there. not even hidden. uninstall.

second one was a "native" mac app but. it showed up in the dock. it was in cmd+tab. activity monitor had it as its literal product name. one mock call it popped a tiny overlay above the zoom window and the partner went "bro whats that orange box in the corner". painful. also uninstalled.

third one actually worked better but killed my battery. my m2 air went from like 90% to 30% in a 40min mock and the fan was going. not usable for an actual panel that might run two hrs.

so i went pretty deep on this. turns out macos is harder to hide on than windows. theres these apis (cgwindowlist, the screen share enumerator, activity monitor) and most of these "interview assist" things dont bother defeating them. they slap a transparent window on top of zoom and call it stealth. its not stealth. its an overlay.

the one i actually stuck w is smaller, not much marketing behind it. does real process masking, masks the binary name in activity monitor to something generic, removes itself from the window enumeration, not in the dock, not in cmd+tab. had activity monitor open on my external while i did a mock round and could not see it. ran native on apple silicon too, no rosetta tax, didnt cook my battery.

ok so the ask. im here bc i figure there has to be other mac ppl in this boat. any of you using a download on mac for this that passes these checks:
- real native mac app, not a browser extension
- stays out of window enum during screen share
- doesnt show in cmd+tab or dock
- doesnt destroy apple silicon battery

found one i like already. curious what else is out there tho. open to trying more if anyone has a fav that actually holds up. weekends are apparently for this now lol

For a very long time, we've been chasing after our annual bonuses and salary increases. They were supposed to be released in May, but weeks turned into months with the same old tune: "The leadership team has coordination issues" or "We're trying to finalize this soon, but nothing is confirmed yet," and so on. This calm before the storm was truly frightening, and people were utterly fed up.

This morning, there was a mandatory meeting for all employees. They revealed that a large portion of our production lines had been sold to another, smaller company located in Texas. About one-third of our workforce will be transferred to this new company, another third has been completely laid off, and the final third will remain with us. Our main office is here in California, so this is a huge move for many people.

I am one of the lucky few who remained, but the human cost is immense. Some people who are being transferred had just finished setting up new homes here. I even know a couple who have been together for years; one of them stayed in their job here, and the other was transferred to the Texas office. And that's not to mention the overwhelming number of people who were let go without a second thought. Honestly, it's now clear why our bonuses and raises have been on hold for so long. But good heavens... No one, and I mean absolutely no one, expected this to be the real reason.

I'm 33 years old and only make around $65k, and honestly I feel like I'm behind people close to my age. When you got into that higher income range, did you feel like your life became more stable, or does life just get more expensive and expenses still increase too?

Is there any career path that could realistically get someone to that number if I'm willing to take classes or get certified in it?

For context, I'm currently working in sales and need to increase my income because rent and basic bills have become difficult. Any advice?

I've been with my current job for about four years. Recently, and especially in the past few months, the workload has increased significantly, and I've taken on many new responsibilities. So naturally, I thought this was the most appropriate time to discuss a salary raise, especially since I haven't seen any increase since day one. I asked my manager about it, and he told me he would look into it.

A little while later, he called me in. What was his explanation? Simply, there's no 'bandwidth' in the budget for my salary to increase. And then he hinted that if I had accepted a lower salary initially when I was hired, there might have been more flexibility for raises later on.

Mind you, I'm not earning a huge amount here. I just found the whole situation incredibly absurd, so I had to share it somewhere.

I've been in a new job as VP for four weeks, and the new employer suddenly sent me a document on Dropbox Sign with no explanation, and it turned out to be a non-compete agreement that is extremely biased in their favor. I started reading it right away and noticed a few issues:

- The biggest problem, of course, is the timing of when they sent it

- It says I can't work for a competitor for 18 months after I leave (and I'm sure there was a section earlier that suggested it was closer to 30 months, then it was changed later)

- It says I can't have any outside work while I'm working for them, even though the owners already know I have a consulting business

- They included a very large geographic radius where I supposedly can't compete, and the list is honestly ridiculous

- It says I agree to my current salary, even though my responsibilities have already increased in the first month

- And lastly, it says that if I leave within 18 months, I have to pay them back up to $1,800 for training

I didn't sign it.

I asked the hr to enter a zoom meeting together to talk about it. I was very stressed to do so, but decided to use ai interviewman tool, which many of you talked about, for the first time to be clear and organized while talking to them. The first question I asked was why it was being given to me in Week 4 instead of before I accepted the offer or during onboarding, and they said the lawyer was late getting it back to them. After that, I explained that my role has expanded a lot since I started, and I asked to review the job description and compensation. She said she would pass my request along to the CEO and another senior leader.

Later that same day, I missed a call from the CEO because I was busy in a meeting. The next morning, the energy from the owners was noticeably different, and HR told me the CEO would speak with me. And then... Nothing. The more I think about it, the more certain I am that I can't sign this current version in good conscience. Honestly, the whole thing has made me seriously question the owners' character. I can't agree to work at a company that handles something important in such a sneaky way.

I've already spoken to an attorney to review the agreement, and I've put together a plan for the next step. If they refuse to make reasonable changes, I don't see any option other than leaving immediately.

update: the CEO was very gentle and he spoke with me, saying that he will update the document with higher salary according to the job description.

I'm on vacation after working 6 days a week for the past 5 months. I really needed to get away for a bit. Then suddenly, without any warning, I got an email with the subject line: Update about Your Position. I opened it and my heart dropped. I got fired. By email. 4 days into my 10-day vacation.

I called my manager immediately because I genuinely thought there had to be some misunderstanding. Nope. She told me this was the company's way of "keeping people honest." But I wasn't lying about anything. She just decided not to believe me, didn't look into the matter properly, and sent a termination email while I was literally out of state trying to rest.

This is what started the whole thing: On Friday, I took a shift that I wasn't even originally scheduled for. As I was leaving, I realized my time hadn't been recorded. Normally, I would message my coworker and ask her to fix it, but this time I used the work laptop and adjusted the clock-in myself.

The next morning, my manager texted me asking how I had changed the time entry. I told her honestly that I was the one who did it. She asked me a few more things, but honestly, I didn't think I had done anything wrong. I worked the shift, so I corrected the hours. If there was a problem, I expected her to talk to me face-to-face instead of turning it into some weird investigation over text.

About 8 days later, while I was in another state trying to enjoy the trip, all my work passwords were suddenly changed. That alone made my stomach drop before I even saw the email. Then I opened my inbox and found it. Fired.

I got extremely anxious and called her immediately. Luckily, she answered. I was barely holding myself together and asked her something like, "What happened? Why are you firing me?" She said the way I adjusted the time made her feel like she could no longer trust me. Apparently, she thought I had intentionally signed out of my profile and logged into someone else's account. I explained to her that I used my phone and the company laptop, and that the laptop automatically opened my coworker's account instead of mine without me noticing.

After I explained it to her, her voice sounded relieved. She even said, "That makes more sense. I still wanted you with us long term." So for a minute, I thought everything had been resolved.

Then, about 45 minutes later, she called me again. This time she said she had spoken with her husband, who is also a co-owner, and he still wanted me gone. She told me her hands were tied, that I "would be successful anywhere," and offered to be a reference for me. Honestly, that just made it feel even more insulting.

The part that really hurts is that I was being paid $16 an hour for the past 5 months while doing way more than the front desk role I was hired for. I was handling marketing emails, Instagram posts, local partnerships, and community events on top of front desk work. No raise, no title change, nothing. They kept saying we'd talk about money when I got back from vacation, and I believed them. Now I feel like that conversation was never going to happen in the first place.

I was never written up or disciplined there. They constantly told me how helpful I was and how much they appreciated me. I think that praise fooled me and made me accept less than I deserved for way too long.

Now I'm lost and questioning everything. I was also heavily involved in their personal circle - watching their friend's dog, helping with her sister's pop-up shop, getting invited to family dinners - and then they fired me by email while I was on vacation. I can't wrap my head around how someone can treat a human being like that.