Tanked MySpace interview on purpose

I had something similar happen to me. It was for an IT consulting group contracted by an Air Force base. The interviewer came into the room and started spouting off technical questions. No handshake, no introduction, no courtesies at all. He acted like I was wasting his time and I instantly knew I wouldn't want to work with or around this guy. With that in mind I vaguely answered the rest of his questions and left.

 

I am Director of Recruiting and Consulting for a smallish firm in S. Florida. I hear this sort of stuff all the time.

We do our level best to warn our candidates if they will be meeting with IT personalities that are better left in the basement to work by himself. Doesn't always work.

If you already know you do not want to work for the company, there is no harm in just saying so at the interview and politely ending it yourself. No sense wasting your time and getting yourself upset.

If no one every tells the jerk he is being absurd, he may never find out. And the company may be losing very good talent because of one bad manager.

 

I think many of us have similar stories. When I was fresh out of school I had an interview with a large chemical company I will call X. During the interview (all day long) there was talk of what they do and that people come to for training, so X is a good place to be from because other companies wanted their rejects.

So on the ride back to the airport, I was asked if I would accept a position and I said no. The supervisor I was riding with was stunned and asked why. I told him that during the day there was no discussion of how their company added value for clients, no discussion on professional career development, etc….. I also told him that while they were interviewing me, I was interviewing them and I had decided that their corporate philosophy didn’t mesh with what I wanted. So for my career development I’ll start out at a different company where the corporate philosophy is what I believe is correct for me.

I’ve been with my current company for 22 years and rejecting company X was a good decision IMHO.

BTW, later that night I got a call from the company president wanting to know what happened. I'll bet a few changes were made.

 

The problem there is too many (bad) managers are in cahoots with CIO's, and even CEO's, depending on the size of the company.
I have seen President/CEO's with as much or more computer savvy than their CIO's, and if the 'bad manager' is a company pet, he's not going anywhere. I have see 75% of a team of 8 walk out on a company because of one guy, but management thought that one guy was gold and deemed the other 6 unworthy.

The 'bad manager' ALWAYS seems to find a way to be a savior, to be the KEY guy to write or fix something but ONLY when he or she knows the brass is watching. Anything else is left to the staff to do, so the BM is knowingly self-insulated.

 

Your story is PRECISELY WHY i gave up working for others per se. Sounds like you have a golden opportunity here to go solo and start your own company. Work when and where you want, how you want, and of course WHO you want. Imagine sitting on a beach in the Caribbean and occasionally cranking out code between 'dates' or play all day and work from 2am to 6am, then sleep until 2pm and meet the ladies on the beach...

My brother turned down the US Gov who offered him BIG money years ago. Smart man.

 

I'm puzzled about interviewers with bad attitudes or who behave like out right jerks.

In my job, private equity, I often get cold called by people looking for a position and interview frequently. I always treat everyone with respect and professionalism mainly because (1) I have been on the other side of the table and (2) the world is too small -- you never know when or how you'll meet these people again. Interviews can be an opportunity to hire someone valuable, make a contact / acquaintance or in the extreme get you a free enemy.

While in grad school I was interviewed by a leading mgmt consulting firm and things didn't go well with the interviewer. Two years later at my job I was asked to go over a resume they were considering... and guess who it was, the same guy. Needless to say he did not get the job.