[jbk]

I went through the Google process too and it didn't come out nicely.

First, I have had almost no actual CS lessons in my university, because it was more focused on general engineering and IT management than on code writing.

However, I've done quite a bit of code in various open source projects and I've touched quite many technologies...

I went through the sets of interviews, and I really seemed to work quite well, even if many design-patterns where unknown to me (I didn't know their names). But the last one wasn't the best one.

Therefore, I got the mail telling me that they got no positions for me, which I understood and accepted easily (I had another engagement at the time).

However, I dared to ask "why?". Was it my technical skills, my personal skills, my logic skills or the way I answered the process, the cause of my rejection?

They refused to even discuss about it, which is not even reaching the minimum of politeness I expect from a company. When they asked if they could keep my Resume, I told them to go away...

This recruitment process does not seem enough respectful for me and gave me a very bad opinion of the company.

[wahnfrieden]

Some companies refuse to discuss that on principle as a way to protect themselves from lawsuits. So you shouldn't take that too personally.

[jbk]

Sure, some of them don't, but then I don't want to work with such kind of companies...

And, sure, I don't take it personally :D I just don't like this behavior.

I didn't ask for details, just a general idea.

I've done a fair deal of job interviews, in order to get this kind of feedback and improve my skills; and Google was the only one that was that little polite on the feedback (even MS was nicer)

They didn't even say: "we can't tell you because of general policy or because of fear of lawsuit"...

[waqf]

Since they doubtless treat everyone that way, I guess you're technically correct that it shouldn't be taken personally.

But the fact that it's only "[s]ome companies" that do that still suggests that it's rude and unprofessional behavior.

[wahnfrieden]

I only said "some" because I can't speak authoritatively on that, but I suspect it's the overwhelming majority.

[tedunangst]

In my experience, it's not some. It's all.

[jbk]

In my experience, Google was the only one.

[davidw]

I went through a phone screening with them recently, and they had a first phone interview set up. But the more I thought about how the screening went, the more it irritated me. I would not have sat through that were it not for the "Google" label. I decided that label or no, I have better things to do with my time than play "20 questions" where you're not allowed to use reference materials. That's not how I work at all. So I politely let them know that at the present time, their firm had been declined an opportunity to work with me, or something to that effect.