Senior Frontend developer Mykola Sutkovy shared a story about a strange experience during the recruitment process. Instead of the usual assessment of hard skills, the technical interview turned into a short conversation about the situation in Ukraine and ended with a standard rejection.
Senior Frontend developer Mykola Sutkovy shared a story about a strange experience during the recruitment process. Instead of the usual assessment of hard skills, the technical interview turned into a short conversation about the situation in Ukraine and ended with a standard rejection.
As Mykola Sutkovy told LinkedIn, he received a direct invitation to the technical stage, bypassing the initial communication with HR. According to him, the stacks and requirements in the vacancy coincided 100% with his relevant experience — down to specific libraries, such as ag-grid, which the developer had already worked with before.
According to the original plan, the hiring was to consist of two stages: a technical interview with the tech lead, and then a technical interview with the client.
However, the first meeting lasted only half an hour. The Backend Team Lead appeared for the interview, immediately stating that he was in charge of the backend department, and briefly presented the project via a screen demonstration.
The rest of the time, the developer and the tech lead discussed the general state of affairs, the difficult job search situation, the number of responses to the vacancy, and the situation in Ukraine.
There were no technical questions or skills checks during the 30-minute session. Despite this, the interviewer promised to provide feedback within three days. As a result, five days later, the IT professional received a standard rejection letter stating that the company had chosen a candidate whose experience «more closely matches the current needs of the project.»
The developer quoted from the response: «After a careful review of your background and a thoughtful discussion with the hiring team, we have decided to move forward with other candidates whose experience more closely matches what we are looking for at this stage.»
