[ModernMech]

> Not enough clarity about your role

I experienced this one to the extreme. Not only would the recruiter not tell me what the scope of the job was, neither would the interviewing engineers nor the hiring manager. I went to the on-site interview with the promise that I would be working on "world-changing technology". The location of the interview was a nondescript building in the Bay area with an off-limits engineering pen I wasn't allowed to see. They kept me in a 10x10 cubicle with a white board and small table for 6+ hours during which a parade of engineers came through to ask me puzzle questions. None of the interviewers could answer simple questions like "What do you do?" or "What am I going to do?"

Seriously, how does anyone accept a job without knowing what the job is? I guess if you're a big enough corporation you can get away with that kind of thing.

[BossingAround]

> Seriously, how does anyone accept a job without knowing what the job is?

Well... I have had the opposite experience with the same effect too. The recruiters and team members had told me exactly what I will do, only to come in and discover they had exactly 0 idea what I will do, and that it's all different.

That was extremely disappointing (and moderately damaging).

[BallCramp]

> They kept me in a 10x10 cubicle with a white board and small table for 6+ hours during which a parade of engineers came through to ask me puzzle questions.

Do you ever wonder whether it was all some kind of psychological experiment? That there really was no job. And the test was to see how long you'd sit there doing puzzles?

> None of the interviewers could answer simple questions like "What do you do?" or "What am I going to do?"

Only the control group was given that information. :P

[walshemj]

You didn't ask if this as a TS Clearance Job ?

[nancy99]

That is very common in the world of government contracts. The just want breathing bodies.