This is the mentality that gets you bullied. There are more openings than qualified people, and businesses can't make money without employees. No one is doing you a favour by giving you a job, they are literally making off your back.
You can always put yourself in a weak position. That doesn't mean the natural balance of power is that you are weak.
At the end of the day, the company wants to hire you and you probably want to be hired. I generally urge people to think of this as a cooperation exercise and not a power struggle.
Interviewers should treat interviewees with dignity and kindness, even when the interviewee is doing poorly. Interviewees should be gracious to the interviewer, even when they have decided to work elsewhere. The first side to stop being cooperative loses.
The above does not however apply to salary negotiation.
> At the end of the day, the company wants to hire you and you probably want to be hired
No, at the end of the day, the company wants to hire SOMEBODY. That somebody is not necessarily you, hence the interview. You're being compared to all the other candidates.
Maybe this is different late in your career when you've got 10+ years experience under your belt, but there are a LOT of candidates in that "3-5 year" experience point.
> I generally urge people to think of this as a cooperation exercise and not a power struggle.
Any "adversarial interview" techniques are a big red flag, imo. They also make it easy to quickly recognise places with a toxic culture, so there's not need to beat yourself up if you fail. You dodged a bullet, plus now have an excuse to rant with your friends over a pint!
Hence, my favourite interviews (regardless of the side I was on) were the one when we had a chance to spend a day working with the candidate.
> What happens if the interview goes poorly? The interviewer gets paid, goes home with a shrug.
Yeah, and the company continues being understaffed for what they want to do, and often the interviewer is one of the people on that team who needs more people.
This completely changed due to WFH and online interviews. I can take a little longer lunch break, do the interview from my home office, then continue with my current job.
The only thing is lost is my midday walk and I have to eat something quick(eg.: sandwich) instead a proper meal.
The only way this is true is if there are a lot of openings at companies that are going to pay significantly under market and can't figure out why nobody is accepting their offers, even when candidates tell them.
Based on another comment [0], maybe this is actually the case.
I don't know if you've looked at the "Who is Hiring" and "Who wants to be Hired" threads in the last 4 months, but the "Who Is Hiring" comment count has been ~3X the number of "Who Wants to Be Hired" over that period
Layoffs and hiring freezes at big tech might change things in the next few months though
> I don't know if you've looked at the "Who is Hiring" and "Who wants to be Hired" threads in the last 4 months, but the "Who Is Hiring" comment count has been ~3X the number of "Who Wants to Be Hired" over that period
That's very easy to explain within a framework of there being lots of available workers and few available positions.
Employers post hiring ads, get responses, and conclude that posting ads works and they should keep doing it.
Job seekers post hire-me ads, get no responses, and conclude that posting ads doesn't work and there's no reason to do it.
I do see where they are coming from. It feels like they have all the power, even if they don't. In that situation where I am going and looking for a job, they do have all the power or a lot of it in that moment that I am looking for a new job there. That in itself can make it feel like they have more power than they do. When we put ourselves in a place where we are trying to "Impress" or Prove that you are the "Better" candidate, we are already in a place of them judging us from a place of power.
Usually I feel like interviews are staged in a way to put Interviewees in a tense, or underdog sort of way. From the moment you walk in you feel like you are in their hands. I am always somewhat nervous and tense in a interview, but that could be more my mentality than anything, but I can see where they are coming from.
In an ideal world we feel equal and have the opportunity to walk out but when you really need a job or have had troubles finding one it can feel pretty powerless.
This is the mentality that gets you bullied. There are more openings than qualified people, and businesses can't make money without employees. No one is doing you a favour by giving you a job, they are literally making off your back.