[kradroy]

At startups recruitment beyond getting a body in the door/Zoom is largely an afterthought.

I remember interviewing a staff researcher candidate when I was 22 at a startup (<50 employees). I was pulled away from my work the day of and thrown in a room with someone with 15 years more experience than me. I actually asked him questions that were not lawful, but I didn't know this because no one bothered giving me guidelines.

I recently interviewed for a hands-on manager position at a startup, and it went south. The recruiter set up the appointment with the VP of eng and told me what the technical topic would be. Two days before the interview the interviewer was changed to a staff engineer. I emailed the recruiter to confirm that the topic would still be the same. She said it would be. Come interview time the interviewer throws a different topic at me, for which I didn't study. I ended up with the correct answer, but it took me the full time to get there. They weren't impressed, but neither was I.

As a hiring manager I take all the these experiences and ensure that I never put a candidate in such a shitty situation.