Just wanted to share my story.

My wife and I got DOGED about 13 months ago. Applied to over 70 remote jobs each and we did not get a single interview request. We just gave up on searching for jobs and decided we should start our own business instead.

I kid you not, about a week after we registered the business as an LLC, I get a call from a recruiter for an on site job in LA.

We said we would never move to LA because the traffic is horrendous and cost of living is insane.

But after more thought, we realized the job could provide us with some runway and oxygen for the business. Reluctantly, I decided to interview for the on site job.

After one interview, the recruiter went dark for 6 days. I received a job offer the next morning. I am now relocating to LA part time while my wife builds and runs the business full time.

As they say, never say never.

Jobadvisor

That's a wild ride — getting DOGE'd, 140+ combined applications with zero bites, then the moment you stop chasing and build something of your own, opportunity shows up uninvited.

The LLC move was probably the psychological shift more than anything. You stopped being a job-seeker and became a founder. That changes how you carry yourself in a conversation, even with a recruiter.

The recruiter going dark for 6 days after one interview and then dropping an offer is very on-brand for how hiring works right now — chaotic, opaque, then suddenly decisive.

Smart play taking the job. Runway is everything in early-stage. Your wife holding down the business full-time while you bring in stable income is actually a solid split — less pressure on the LLC to perform before it's ready.

LA traffic is genuinely as bad as advertised, though. Hope the role comes with some flexibility. 😄

Most degrading interview of my life

 The role was large scale technical migration: certainly not an easy undertaking. The job posting framed it as Management and client oriented (Managing expectations, asking the right questions, engaging the tech experts when needed). Business analytics, team lead, customer centric.

I was encouraged to apply two days ago, was asked to interview yesterday. I had an internal referral rooting for me.

I fit every qualifier in the job posting, understood the importance of the role, and knew my limitations. I researched the nuances and came prepared. After eight weeks post layoff, Momentum!

There are two people on the interview with me: the hiring manager and the tech expert. It’s early morning. The hiring manager is in Vegas (for work), camera turned off. He jokes that I must like mornings (actually NO, but you suggested an early interview and I obliged). It rolls off the shoulder, I’m composed— a leadership position necessitates nerves of steel ….The tech expert has his camera on but says nothing, does not even introduce himself.

Hiring manager asks me to introduce myself. I thank them (imo critical) spend two min max summarizing my experience and segue it back to the role. He then passes the torch to the tech expert.

Next 20 min or so are technical questions: do you know x? Mostly yes or no responses. No elaboration for context or for my edification. At times I could not understand his accent, so I’d ask for him to repeat the question or provide an example. None of these topics were even alluded to in the job posting.

the hiring manager then asks if I’ve heard the news in the last couple days about AI. (are you fucking kidding me? There are headlines about AI constantly). I reframe and say, I know the various models, broadly comparing them and speaking to this specific product that relates to the role (mind you, adjacent, AI is NOT in the job posting at all). I reframe it and explain why this particular product offering is better than the competitors. I was never told what the fuck he was actually even asking about, and a post interview Google search left me just as confounded.

They asked me if I have any questions. I say yes, thank you, but before I get to them, I’d like to reiterate that I am not a technical admin, but I excel at [what’s in the job posting].

The hiring manager chuckles under his breath and says “yeah, I think we got that.” Before I could ask a single question, they then tell me that they have additional candidates to interview, and to reach out to MY REFERRAL with any questions. The call ends. 35 min into an hour time slot.

What the actual fuck? I have been a hiring manager, I have been a recruiter, I have been laid off before, I have been at this for 20 years. Never in my life have I felt, nor witnessed, such an abrasive interview.

I have always excelled at the interview process (literally gotten offers for all roles for which I reached this benchmark). I am shocked and at a loss as to how far off the mark this was. Most importantly, I was profoundly embarrassed to respond to my referral’s follow up (“how’d this morning go?”).

What am I missing here??? This has shaken me to my core and made me question everything I thought I knew.

Jobadvisor

You're not missing anything. That interview was poorly run, and what you experienced was real.

But let me give you the honest read, because you asked.

What actually happened:

The job posting lied. Or at minimum, it was written by someone who didn't fully understand the role — which is extremely common in mid-to-large orgs. The hiring manager posted a client-facing, management-oriented role. The tech expert showed up with a completely different mandate: find someone who can go deep technically. Those two people were not aligned on what they were actually hiring for. You walked into a crossfire that had nothing to do with you.

The "heard the news about AI" question is a classic unstructured interview failure. He had something specific in mind, didn't articulate it, and then silently scored you against an invisible benchmark. That's bad interviewing, full stop.

The moment that sealed it:

"Yeah, I think we got that."

That's the tell. The tech expert had already tagged you as not technical enough for what he needed, and the hiring manager was already wrapping up in his head. Your pivot to clarify your strengths — which was the right instinct — landed after the decision was effectively made. Timing, not content.

What you're actually dealing with:

You haven't lost your ability to interview. You walked into a broken process and tried to play a game where the rules had already changed without notice. That's not a you problem.

The part that stings most — the referral — is also the most recoverable. "It wasn't the right fit technically, the role seems to have evolved from the posting" is a true, professional, and face-saving answer. Your referral has probably seen bad interviews from that hiring manager before.

What's shaking you isn't this interview. It's 8 weeks of accumulated pressure cracking through the one moment that felt like momentum. That's human. It makes sense.

You're still standing. The LLC is still running. This one doesn't count against you.

Advice on dealing with rejection after the final round?

Been interviewing with a company that was a really good fit for my skill set (marketing) for the past month. Went through 4 rounds of interviews, talking to multiple managers, completed 2 at home assessments, etc and all signs were pointing towards me getting an offer.

My last interview in particular I thought was my strongest performance out of all the stages, where everything flowed very smoothly, I answered all questions confidently, and the interviewer even said they skipped over many of the prepared questions as they were “too basic” for me. The “next steps” in the follow up email I got following that interview noted a final in person interview would be scheduled. I made it very clear throughout that I was willing to relocate for the position and accommodate their timeline. The hiring manager was very communicative and personable throughout the process, calling me regularly with updates and seemingly excited for me.

Then today, the day after the interview that I thought I crushed, I received a generic / templated rejection email. It really stung as I was already envisioning my life in the role, new location, etc and all signs pointed towards things moving forward.

How do you guys deal with rejection like this when you put so much time, effort and emotional investment into something only for it to all be dropped in the blink of an eye with no explanation? Definitely doesn’t feel good

Jobadvisor

That really stings, and the timing — a generic rejection the day after what felt like your best interview — makes it especially disorienting. The whiplash is real.

A few things worth holding onto:

The rejection likely isn't about you. Late-stage rejections at this level almost always come down to internal factors you had zero visibility into: a budget freeze, someone internally getting promoted into the role, a hiring committee disagreement, or even a restructure announced that morning. The speed of the rejection (literally the next day) actually supports this — it wasn't a slow deliberation weighing your performance. Something changed on their end.

Your performance was real. The interviewer skipping questions because they were "too basic" for you — that happened. That feedback is data about your ability, and it doesn't disappear because of this outcome. The evidence you gathered over four rounds about your fit and performance still holds.

The emotional investment was appropriate, not a mistake. Some people say "never get attached until you sign." That's bad advice. Genuine excitement and investment is what makes you perform well in interviews, and clearly it did. The cost is moments like this. That's just the math of putting yourself out there for things that matter.

On the practical side — if the hiring manager was as warm and communicative as you described, it's completely reasonable to send a short, gracious reply to the rejection asking if they're able to share any feedback. Sometimes you learn something useful, and sometimes they circle back months later when circumstances change. Either way you leave a good impression.

The short answer to how you deal with it: you give yourself a day or two to actually feel bad about it without trying to logic your way out of it too fast. It was a real loss worth grieving briefly. Then you remind yourself that you clearly interview well and can get deep into competitive processes, which is a skill a lot of people don't have.

Process Slowed After Interviews

I applied for a job at a big name company in my industry with 2 internal referrals. Within a day of applying they asked me for an interview. After the first interview I went on to the second the next day and the 3rd interview the day after that. So within 7 days of applying I had been reached out to and had 3 interviews. After the 3rd the recruiter reached out and said there was positive feedback and they would get back with a decision at the beginning of this week. Now today they let me know they met with the hiring manager and will let me know a decision on next steps mid next week due to the holiday. My question is 1. Why do processes slow like this and 2. If they met with the hiring manager why do they have to wait until next week? Surely if it was a no they would have just said it and not waited over the weekend if they already met?

Jobadvisor

These are really common anxieties at this stage, and honestly your read of the situation seems pretty optimistic for good reason. Here's what's likely going on:

Why Processes Slow Down

The fast early pace happened because of your referrals — internal champions flagged you as a priority, so the team moved quickly to interview before losing momentum. But after interviews, the decision enters a different organizational layer. Now it involves:

• Budget sign-off — even a verbal "yes" from a hiring manager often needs finance or a department head to approve the headcount before an offer can go out
• Compensation benchmarking — they may be figuring out what to actually offer you, which involves HR running numbers
• Other candidates — they may be finishing interviews with one or two others to compare, even if you're the frontrunner
• Holiday scheduling — decision-makers are simply unavailable or distracted

The fast interview phase and the slow decision phase are basically two different machines inside the same company.

Why the Hiring Manager Meeting Doesn't Instantly Produce an Answer

The recruiter meeting with the hiring manager is usually a recommendation conversation, not a final decision. The hiring manager likely said something like "yes, I want to move forward" — but the recruiter still needs to:

• Get formal approval to extend an offer
• Align on comp range
• Loop in HR or a director above the hiring manager

The recruiter can't just say "you got the job" until those pieces are confirmed.

Your Intuition Is Probably Right

The fact that they:

1. Gave you a specific timeline ("mid next week") rather than ghosting
2. Cited a concrete reason (the holiday)
3. Didn't just send a rejection now

...strongly suggests they're managing your expectations while they finalize the yes, not building up to a no. Rejections at this stage are almost always sent quickly with a templated email — they don't schedule follow-up windows for bad news.

The hardest part is just sitting with the uncertainty through the weekend. But the signals you're describing are genuinely positive.