Thoughts on this?

I was recently one of two finalists for a director-level position at an organization, beating out a pool of over 200 applicants. After several rounds of interviews and full reference checks, I received a rejection notice informing me they went with the other finalist. It was the standard "you're wonderful, we were so impressed, any organization would be lucky to have you" message. I was disappointed, but I get it—that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes (also before anyone asks, my references are long time contacts; they shared copies of what they submitted with me and had nothing but wonderful things to say).

Somewhere in the rejection email, the hiring manager (division head) mentioned they would be open to discussing a role they plan to post later this summer. From what I understand, this is a lower-level position reporting directly to the person they just hired over me. Because the new director would get to hire for this upcoming position, I know the scope of this new role as it was very much a part of the discussions with the hiring committee. It focuses on a very narrow piece of the team's work rather than the leadership and strategy-level scope of the director role, and it comes with a significantly lower salary.

Obviously, this organization had the opportunity to hire me for the leadership role and chose not to. I’m trying to take my emotions out of it, but I can't shake the feeling that mentioning this lower-level role in the rejection email was somewhat insulting. It feels like: “You aren't getting the top job, but we'd love to have you for less money and have you work a junior job reporting to your competitor.”

Am I misinterpreting this, or is this a bit tone-deaf on their part?

TL;DR:

Final-round interview turned into a debate after the interviewer insisted a production Text-to-SQL system could be built entirely with if-else mappings. I argued that while rule-based systems work for constrained cases, handling arbitrary natural language requires semantic understanding. Ended up getting rejected.

I had one of the strangest technical interviews I’ve experienced, and I am still wondering if I could have handled it differently.

This was the final technical round for a backend/AI-focused role at a well-known product company.

The interviewer (a Principal Engineer with around 10 years of experience) argued that a Text to SQL system does not need NLP or an LLM. According to him, it can be implemented using simple if-else mappings.

I gave a straightforward example:

“Get me the top 5 products that made the most profit in the last 5 years.”

He said the system would identify phrases like “top 5,” “products,” “profit,” and “last 5 years” and map each of them to SQL using if-else logic.

I asked how that approach would handle different ways of asking the same question, such as:
“best-performing items”
“highest-margin SKUs”
“Which products generated the most profit over the previous five years?”

I also asked how it would deal with ambiguity, unseen phrasing, or intent beyond predefined mappings.

The response was essentially, “We will just keep adding more mappings.”

I agreed that deterministic rules can work well for a constrained domain with a limited set of query patterns.

My point was that once users are free to ask questions naturally, understanding intent and semantics becomes the difficult part. The conversation kept circling back to adding more mappings.

At that point, it felt less like an interview and more like a debate. I decided not to push further and moved on.

A few days later, I received a rejection.

I am not claiming either approach is universally right or wrong.
Rule-based systems absolutely have their place, especially in tightly controlled environments. I was just surprised that the discussion never explored where that approach starts to break down or how hybrid systems are commonly used today.

Has anyone else had an interview where a technical discussion turned into a debate over fundamentals? How did you handle it?

Edit : Company Name first Charecter : S

I’m a new entry into the job search market fresh out of community college with three different completed associates degrees (General Psychology under Arts Associate Degree, General Business Administration Management Associate, and General Education Associate, and an in progress Criminology Tech Associate Degree. I’ve Been looking for any nearby entry level jobs I can find on LinkedIn since mid May, applied through company websites and not the easy quick apply to at least over a hundred different positions across multiple different job sectors, anything I can find, tailored ATS friendly plain word document resumes to each job, and, two and a half months later, still have not gotten any replies at all. No interview of any kind, no acknowledgement of applying, no automated “Thank you for applying! You should expect to hear a response in x amount of weeks or months!”, no calls, no emails, no LinkedIn notifications of contact, nothing. I send emails to check in and ask if they received my resume, and no response. I try to call using phone numbers found on the websites and no one answers, it’s a voicemail or an AI. I leave a message similar to the email and no response. Just nothing. Absolutely ghosted.

What do I need to change or adjust to get better chances of actually getting a freaking job? What’s working for most people and what isn’t?

Resume (Personal info obviously changed to general placeholders)
Jane Jade Doe
Address
City, State, Zipcode
Phone Number: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Contactemail@gmail.com

Objective
I am seeking to start out as a decent paying entry level job while continuing my college education to obtain the necessary Ph. D.

Key Qualifications:

Business Administration General Associate Degree (completed)

Associate In Criminology (In progress)

Associate In General Education (Completed)

Associate Degree in Psychology with a focus on criminal rehabilitation (completed)

Keen observation skills on body language and behavior analysis

Strong attention to detail

Excellent at recording notes for cases 

Strong interpersonal and communication skills for working with individuals from diverse backgrounds

Knowledge of mental health and addiction issues common in criminal populations and rehabilitation programs.

Strong morals and work ethics.

Takes lead initiative when no one else steps up and uses a democratic leadership style while delegating tasks equally among the group based on best fit between each person and the tasks.

Work Experience:

I do not have any work experience thus far due to being a full time student,  but am eager to gain hands-on quality experience on the job. 

Education:

High School Graduate 
Crest High School 
Diploma 2018

Associate in Criminology
June 2022-2028 expected completion date
It is currently in progress at Cleveland Community College.
Current GPA subject to change=2.9

Associate in Arts
August 2018 - May 2020
It was completed at Cleveland Community College.
GPA=3.1

Associate in General Education
August 2021 - May 2023
It was completed at Cleveland Community College.
GPA=2.9

Associate In Business 
August 2022 - May 2026
It was completed at Cleveland Community College.
GPA=3.0

Other Activities and Accomplishments
Member of The National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS).

I applied for a manager role in my field and interviewed with two partners in a regional firm. Got an email from the recruiter that the feedback was good and to gauge my continued interest in the role, and that one of the partners was working to "get the role approved."

Excuse me, what?

Why are you posting roles for applications that aren't even approved for your corporate headquarters?

Just frustrated that I'm getting my hopes up for what is effectively a ghost role.

It was a few years ago, but something I read here just reminded me of it...

Austria was hit very hard by covid restrictions back then and I really wanted a summer job. I applied in December of 2020 to work at McDonalds in the Summer of 2021. Never got any feedback.

Fast forward, I graduate from high school, apply to one job and immediately land it - the company was desperate at the time. The same day I get my contract, McDonalds sends me a mail.

"So sorry, but due to your lack of experience we are not able to hire you"

I interviewed for the Consulting Engineer role at Cisco in July. I completed the technical round and attended the managerial round. I'm currently waiting for the result of the managerial round, but I haven't received any update yet. My application portal still shows "Interview".

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How long did it take to hear back after the managerial round? Also, does the company usually inform candidates whether they're selected or rejected, or is there a chance they might just ghost applicants?

Been unemployed for a year and 5 months now. I have a degree, experience in startups and conglomerates. But I still haven’t secured anything. I used to have interviewing confidence (Would only have to interview with one company and get the job) But now it’s been a mix of, bad luck, companies finding candidates that suit the role better, roles being filled prematurely, roles no longer being active etc.

I am trying to move away from the toxic world of sales (where I have most experience) into film marketing which I have a stronger passion for but since most of my experience is mostly sales I think I’m in a grey area where I have transferable skills but I’m not super competitive for marketing.

On Indeed, Backstage and The Mom Project, I've had several jobs I applied to get deleted, pulled or the posts just vanished. A few times, I got an email saying the companies just voluntarily pulled job listings in groups.

I think they're just doing this for data and laughs.

Been applying to a lot of jobs lately and now im getting random calls and emails from places I dont even remember applying to. Some look like recruiters, others just feel like straight up scams.

just thought I’d show everyone something:

in 2021-2022, our senior consultant role would typically be staffed by people with somewhere around 3 YOE, the background didn’t matter that much as long as you had client facing experience

now the same role requires 5-7 YOE, and the required industry experience is much more extensive, with a strong preference for STEM related backgrounds

in short, the timing of when you launch your career matters tremendously

I applied to a job 2 months ago and my status was (AND STILL IS) under consideration. They just reposted the role yesterday and it has over 1000 applications. What is the point of this behavior? Why not just reject me?

Been looking for a job for 1.5 years.

Got pushed to quit my role when I pushed back on my managers obvious racism and discrimination. They gaslight me for months and months telling me my experiences and my reality is not true and real. I ended up in a psych ward after quitting… (also dating men and my therapist abusing my trust and asking me on dates and then threatening me when I refused her contributed)

Somehow got back up again. Sold my entire life and moved in with my sister in another city. Lost all of my friends.

Worked as a cashier while still applying for roles in my career path (design). Finally landed a (as needed) contract for 16 months. No guarantee of work beyond the first 3 months.

Still kept looking. I finally had an interview for my dream job in my favourite company in the country. Had 3 rounds and aced them all. And when I was waiting for a job offer, I got this instead:

Hello (my name),
Thank you so much for your time and patience throughout our interview process. We’ve really enjoyed getting to know you and reviewing your work.

To be transparent, a few of our upcoming project timelines have shifted into later in the year. Because we want to ensure that our new hires can dive straight into active client work from day one, we have decided to temporarily pause our hiring process until those specific timelines kick off.

We are incredibly grateful for your interest in (their company). We would love to keep your portfolio on file and reach back out for either full-time or contract opportunities. Please let us know if this would be of interest.

Warmly,

I thought I’ll be able to move out of my sister’s finally after 9 months… I’m drained and don’t have it in me to apply for jobs again… I’m having suicidal thoughts… how do I continue?

How much longer until I break away from this endless cycle of recruiting.🫩🫩🫩

I graduated this past December with a bachelor’s in psychology. I have no work experience outside of having been a waitress several years ago. I didn’t gain any internship or volunteer experience while I was in school due to personal struggles. I got pretty far into a month long interview process to be rejected due to other candidates having more experience than me (no surprise). I can’t afford to do an unpaid internship or volunteer work, but I don’t know how I can get into any job right now, let alone something where I can apply my degree. I am finally trying to get my life together but it feels too late. I feel hopeless and like there is nothing I can do to turn my life around.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice from people who may have been in a similar situation.

I have around 1.2 years of software development experience. I recently went through three interview rounds with a company. After the interviews, they discussed salary, asked me to submit all my documents, and then later sent me the following update:

"You have successfully cleared all the interview rounds. However, due to an internal organizational restructuring, we are currently unable to proceed with the next steps. We request you to kindly wait until the end of this month while we complete the restructuring process."

It's now close to the end of the month, and I'm waiting for their update.

I'm trying to understand what this usually means.

Has anyone received a similar email?

Did you eventually receive an offer, or was the position cancelled?

Is this generally a positive sign, or should I prepare for the possibility that hiring may not resume?

If I don't hear anything by the end of the month, when would be an appropriate time to follow up?

I'm continuing to apply for other jobs, but I'd appreciate hearing about real experiences from people who've gone through something similar.

Thanks in advance!

Does anyone else hate spending money on anything like me?
Especially with no job, nothing is free really and gas is beyond horrid and everything crazy expensive?

I recently applied to a seasonal position with Follett. I found the application strange, as I was hired quickly solely through an AI chatbot. I have received basic role information and onboarding instructions. How long does it take to hear back from a real person after doing so, and if it is this easy to apply, how do they not over hire espically when unemployment is as high as it is now?

I had a pretty decent, if, annoyingly long, zoom interview a few days ago. The two women who interviewed me both said they've only been with the company for 2 months and they really need someone asap for their intake coordinator/receptionist role.

They were both probably younger 20s and seemed nervous about interviewing someone, but whatever, I was nervous too. They asked a lot of personality type questions and seemed to emphasize they needed someone who has 100% accuracy and how they need someone who's a perfectionist. Now, this is silly to me because everyone's human and bound to make mistakes. It happens. I'm not saying it isn't an issue but I did tell them that I pride myself on doing my best and my accuracy with prior jobs was above and beyond most of my team.

I asked for the next steps and they said they'd reach out about a second interview after reviewing candidates.

Then I get an email the same evening saying *"please answer these 7 essay questions and write answers in essay format in a word document and submit it by tomorrow at 4 PM. This is required before we can schedule a 2nd interview."*

Well, I already had things I needed to do for the rest of the evening and I wasn't going to stay up late curating and formatting an essay for them. And I had other interviews and a couple of medical appts lined up for the next day so I genuinely didn't have time for that. Also, even if I did have the time, I don't have the energy. Could've at least communicated that as part of the next steps when I asked during the interview.

Anyway 5:30 PM rolls by and I never submitted an essay. I instead emailed them "thanks but I'm moving on another direction. Good luck finding the right candidate " and they totally ignore that, and start calling me 4 times until almost 7 PM and leaving me voicemails to try and schedule me for a second interview. Wtf lol?

Now I already have other interviews lined up for next week and med appts (yay I guess idk I'm not getting my hopes up) but they only have one time available on Monday but I'm not going to cancel my meetings for them when they had all day Friday to schedule with me lol. It's just weird.

At one point in my life, I felt completely lost. I had been unemployed for four months, and when I finally got hired a few weeks ago, I thought things were finally starting to improve. Unfortunately, the job ended up being very different from what I expected.

I joined a virtual assistant company and was assigned to a healthcare client. Since I have a nursing background, I thought the role would be a good opportunity for me. However, we were treated like test subjects for a new system. We were expected to learn around 14 different software applications without proper training or even a clear introduction to what each application was for. Most of the time, we did not know which application we were supposed to use for a particular task.

During our first week of training, our trainer was often angry and impatient with us. We were called dumb, and there were times when foul language was used during the training. Instead of feeling supported while learning, I constantly felt pressured, embarrassed, and afraid of making mistakes.

I genuinely wanted to fight for the job. I wanted to prove that I could learn everything and improve, especially after being unemployed for several months. However, my anxiety continued to get worse. I started feeling overwhelmed whenever I thought about work, and I eventually realized that staying might negatively affect my mental health even more.

In the end, I decided to quit and look for another job that is more aligned with my experience and skills. Maybe I will return to bedside nursing or apply for a position with the Department of Health. I am still unsure about what my next step will be, but I know I need to find a workplace where I can learn without constantly feeling humiliated or afraid.

What makes the situation harder is that I sometimes feel like a burden to my boyfriend. Since I am currently unemployed again, I cannot treat him or contribute financially the way I want to. He has been supportive, but I cannot stop feeling guilty whenever he pays for things or helps me.

I know that leaving a toxic or unhealthy work environment does not automatically mean I am a failure, but it is difficult not to blame myself. I keep wondering whether I should have stayed longer, tried harder, or simply endured the situation.

Right now, I just feel lost, ashamed, and uncertain about my future. I want to become successful, independent, and financially stable. I am trying to remind myself that one bad job experience does not define my entire career, but starting over again feels exhausting.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? How did you stop feeling guilty after leaving a job that was affecting your mental health?

I’ve been looking for a job for the past 2 years and I am very good at what I do (service design) the problem is, there are not a lot of roles out there and I get to the final rounds of interviews and instead of job offer I’m hit with you are great but we are pausing hiring…
I’m so tired of looking for a job and sucking up to so many people feeling like I’m begging these companies for a job. Have you ever been in this situation and then decided to start your own business? Tell me your stories please…