[setgree]

I once got stood up for a round of interviews — I showed up, waited, emailed them multiple times to let them know I was there, and then 30 minutes later they wrote to me to ask if I could come in another day (rather than meeting me at the front desk where I was sitting). At the time I was just annoyed that they had wasted my time, but in retrospect, the real red flag there was that no one took responsibility — “there was a scheduling conflict” was as much as I got. I went to the next interview but when I got a weird feeling about it, I withdrew from the process.

You can learn a lot about an org if you just watch how they treat you and each other. That’s the lesson I took from this article as well.

[bob33212]

I had a second round with the CEO of a small startup on zoom. 5 times in a 45 minute interview he said "Sorry hold that thought, just responding to a customer email real quick"

It was tempting to tell him that we should just wrap this up if he had more important things to do.

[setgree]

I would call this an ambiguous signal, a lot of CEOs are just like this; but you might know about yourself that this style wouldn’t work for you in a manager. It would not work for me.

[devmunchies]

if he was personally trying to guarantee quick response times to customers, then that sounds like his priorities are right.

Especially at a "small startup", this is a good sign. Makes me think there was more work than employees which is why the CEO was interviewing and doing customer support.

[wyldfire]

Don't make the appointment if you can't dedicate your attention. If the CEO is too busy, they shouldn't be a part of the interview.

If something comes up, find a new host or give the candidate a mid-session break.

[devmunchies]

> Don't make the appointment if you can't dedicate your attention

maybe the CEO is swamped and needs to hire people so he can dedicate attention.

I'm assuming the best, but if my assumptions are true, the CEO should have said upfront that they are growing fast and he may need to personally help with support during the interview.

[ghaff]

I had forgotten about this but my first professional job something like this happened with one of my interviewers a few time--not customers but fires of various types. It was a pretty good job for a few years though.

[jowdones]

Meh, it's disrespectful and rude.

I had a friend, haven't seen him in a while then met for a coffee and a chat. 10 times in 20 minutes he would pick up a call in the middle of the conversation and "hold that thought".

Made a huge effort not to tell him to go f himself at the end but that concluded our "friendship".

[mleonhard]

If you had told him that you needed him to stop answering his phone, you might still be friends.

[goatinaboat]

If you had told him

This is not a thing that anyone should need to be told

[ghaff]

Stuff does happen. I actually got stood up for my first in-person discussion with someone from my current company. But, in all fairness, it was informal, a call came up, and their admin didn't have my cell. (The scheduled meeting wasn't even in the office.)