Ask HN: How do you handle the awkward 10 minutes at the end of a bad interview?

I've had it happen before - the salary was below expectations, and my way of doing things didn't click with theirs. It wasn't going to work.

So we just debated architecture and chatted about the field, as well as cool stuff the CEO was doing.

Another one where I totally flunked the technical interview. The interview question was something they actually implemented in the product. I asked the interviewer back what the right answer is, and he was happy to talk through it.

You should always get feedback from interviews. But don't use manipulative phrasing like, "If you didn't accept me for this job, what would the reason be?"

Hard to improve on Muzani’s answer but here is my take:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33003145

It’s a great chance to learn about a domain you may not know very well.

I only ever applied for jobs that would be exceptionally interesting to me, and that were a way to level up my skills.

Therefore in the case that you described, I would have come with a list of questions to ask about how they do things, because I would have those same questions if I met the person on a bus or something.

Back when you were a fetus I interviewed for a job at Microsoft which I knew they wouldn’t give me (spoiler: I actually did get the job). But I viewed that day of interviews as an incredible opportunity to satisfy the curiosity I had about a wide range of their internal practices and thought processes. I also got to see a demo of the very first version of IntelliSense.

A few years ago I was pounding the digital pavement and applying for jobs. I received a call from a place where I hadn't applied; they found me anyway. I set an appointment and followed their instructions which led me to a very unassuming back office - no signage out front, knock to request entrance.

I had my resume on my notebook in my backpack, but the first stop was filling out a short paper application. I was ushered in to see "the boss man" and I jotted a few notes on a memo pad while we chatted.

He presented the case to me and I sort of zoned out, thinking how unappealing this job seemed. He was also finding out how inexperienced I was for his purposes. The bulk of the interview was fairly awkward, but I was determined to show some honesty and candor. So as we wrapped up, I said something like "I think we both know that this job isn't for me. Thanks for your time." and I tore out my notes, handing them over so as to protect his privacy. He glanced at them and smiled because I'd made a note of the Star Wars action figures behind him.

It was a graceful exit from an unfortunate situation. I did land a job shortly after, with another firm where I hadn't applied, and I'm totally happy with it!

As interviewee just ask how you fucked up and could do better next time perhaps.

The interviewer is in a worse place as they have to keep pretending.

The FAA checkrides are nice because by law the inspector has to tell you the moment you fail (if you fail) and then you have the option of returning to the airport or continuing.

As the interviewer, you should stick to an interview checklist, even if the candidate is obviously failing.

As the interviewee, nobody is keeping you there, if you're failing the interview and want to leave, just leave. Fly free little bird!

(Hopefully there were two interviewers, so the lone interviewer won't have to look bad when they tell their boss "The candidate left early and declined to reschedule", but if not, not your problem, sucks to be them).

Once I had an interview because the offer looked interesting. Otherwise I was not actively looking.

The interviewer was borderline rude and not listening to anything I was saying.

I mentioned, for example, that I had no linkedin, so I did not fill it in the web application form. They had a checklist with requirements like Java 1.9 and I said I used 1.8 in x position (by then 1.9 did not exist), but it was not a problem because I was aware of the changes in 1.9 etc.

After a few similar questions where the interviewer was asking for exact versions of software and disapproving of the exact versions of software I used (they were not technical) I calmly mentioned I did not think it would be a good fit for their company or me, but I was happy to have talked to them. We could finish the interview, since I did not want to make them waste any time.

Their answer to this was to panic, telling me they had still 15 minutes until their next interview, pleasantries were exchanged, followed by wishing me luck in my other interviews (I said I was not actively looking, only this one offer I was curious about). They also asked me to share my linkedin profile (which I mentioned not to have). Then they said recruiters are annoying, right? to which I answered I don't have anything against recruiters, just never had the need for a linkedin account.

It did leave a bad impression on the company but IMO if you see there is clearly no fit it is better for everyone to calmly bring it up.

If I'm the interviewer and an interview has clearly gone badly and both sides known it, I usually just ask the person about something they are working on at work/personally/coursework, or whatever. People are usually happy to focus on something they can talk about and my goal is to end the conversation on a positive note. So if they feel they were able to talk about their project(s) and present their strengths, they can walk away with a more positive feeling.

I think the only exception is if the person has clearly lied about everything on their resume. I don't mean people who have stretched the truth - I really mean the type of person who insists they "I did X" but they clearly did not. I'll just end the meeting early and that's the end of it.

As an interviewee I think it really depends on the situation. If the company and job seem interesting, I definitely try to ask questions to learn more about what they are really doing in their jobs. If the person who interviewed me is an a-hole or clearly not engaged in the interview I just say thanks and end the call.

No one's talked about being on the interviewer side yet.

I've seen some interviewers really botch the candidate experience of a bad interview. One ended it about 30 minutes before the end and asked the candidate "do you think this is going well?". That felt like it really lacked compassion and while it may have saved time for everyone it clearly made the candidate feel even worse than they already did.

Typically for the end 20mins or so I try and give to candidates to ask us questions. Even if they've bombed I'll still give them that time. If they run out of questions early then it feels more like they've bought the interview to a close than me. I'll wrap things up, thank them for their time, and explain that they'll hear from us the next working day.

I'm all for a candidate ending the interview early, if things really aren't working then I have no problem with that at all. When you're on the other side of the table I think you need to give a bit more as you're fronting for the company. I also want to give people time to recover if things are going badly.

Ideally, interviews should be a chance for both parties to learn something. Normally, this is learning about the position/ whether the position is a good fit.

In abnormal cases where it's clear the interview progress will go no further, hopefully both parties can learn more about something else. Technical domains, career progression tips, even different strategies for tackling a problem (just because your method is not going to work in the company doesn't mean hearing about it for ten minutes won't help).

That said, if there's a major mismatch between interview and resume, ask if there's outside factors. Maybe they just found out their dad is dying and were trying to tough it out through an interview. Maybe they're autistic and should have asked for an accommodation because they're fighting through a florescent-light-fueled-migraine. Once or twice that's been the case, and giving them a second chance on a different day was the right call.

As an interviewer I always asked candidates if they have any questions for me at the end regardless of how the interview went. It's up to the candidate if they want to end the meeting early. When they have questions for me, I treat the last 10 mins as if I am having a chat with a person who happens to be very interested in what I'm working on.

Why in the world would you not tell them it’s not going to work out and end the interview early?

From the interviewer side, I would keep with the scheduled items for the interview. Then give the answer next day or whenever the results should be communicated.

From the interviewee side, stop the interview conversation and state my thoughts.

It happened to me that the recruiter asked if "I worked with Linux", I said yes as a Java Developer and moved to the next step. The day of the interview, after some questions I just wanted to die, they were questions about developing Linux itself at low level C. After answering only 1 or 2 questions. I stopped and told the interviewer the confusion.

The times it happened to me, I started little chit chat about life in general, whatever point was spoken before, about the state of the industry, the product of the company, some event, for example CPPCON, like "do your company participate in CPPCON?" That would be a starter for abridging the moment.

I leave 10 minutes early.

Small talk