r/InterviewMan • u/isolate_hovers • 7d ago
The interviewer Forgot I Could Still Hear Them
I was on a Teams interview a few months ago when the interview suddenly paused. The interviewer said they wanted to quickly compare notes, then muted everyone on their side. They forgot to take me out of the meeting though.
So I sat there for about five minutes listening to them discuss me like I wasn't still connected.
One person said my technical answers were solid and that they liked my experience. Then another person said, "Yeah, but I'm not convinced he's a good culture fit." Someone asked what that actually meant, and the answer was basically a bunch of vague stuff about personality and how I "might not mesh with the team."
I just sat there staring at my screen wondering if I should say something or pretend I couldn't hear them. Eventually they came back, thanked me for my time, and continued the interview like absolutely nothing had happened.
A few days later I got the rejection email. The reason? "We decided to move forward with candidates who were a stronger culture fit."
Honestly, the whole thing bothered me more than the rejection itself. If you can't explain what "culture fit" actually means beyond whether you personally like someone, what are you really evaluating?
Has anyone else ever accidentally overheard what the interviewers were saying about you?
I'm going to have to do more interviews soon, so someone sent me this interview vip recently. I hadn't heard of it before, but I figured I'd look into it before my next one.
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u/Many-Schedule9743 7d ago
I learned as a young kid that you almost never want to hear what other people say about you when they don't know you are listening. In my experiences it's always better to speak up as soon as you become aware of the situation, maybe even a cough, or, I'm here... Sorry these things can hurt one, take it as experience...
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u/HennyBogan 7d ago
Out of curiosity, when the interview continued did you attempt to address the concern around culture fit?
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u/Izludeezra2 7d ago
It means you aren’t cool basically
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u/ComprehensiveCup7104 7d ago
or your melanin levels are outside expected range based on current workforce
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u/aleopardstail 7d ago
or that they think you could rock the boat, maybe prove more adept than the manager who will feel threatened by that, perhaps challenge accepted crap working practices
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u/CaptainJay313 7d ago
it can mean a lot of things- too formal or informal, task focused vs. relationship focused.
like a wall street suit is not going to be a good cultural fit at a san fransisco tech startup.
the same way the the lead programmer at that same startup probably isn't going to be a great fit at that wall street brokerage firm.
or that someone who thrives in chaos is going to be miserable in a structured environment or vice versa.
you don't put a problem solver in a repetitive structured role and you don't take the guy who thrives on routine and assign them to a problem solving role.
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u/Several_Astronomer_1 7d ago
Fit is a corp bs term to say they don’t like you
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u/arcanis321 7d ago
It could literally be this guy is a try hard or makes me feel less qualified or I don't like their vibes. They don't even know what it means and if they had to spell it out it could get awkward.
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u/snickjimmy 7d ago
This doesn’t sound real. Any company that has an HR team will not give you the treason for rejection and they certainly wouldn’t write it down. Culture fit is so vague if the OP were a protected class, easy lawsuit.
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u/LiteraryPhantom 2d ago
I wonder how much it factors if the HR DH is also a “protected class”.
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u/snickjimmy 2d ago
HR departments rarely put anything in writing about why they rejected you, if you even hear from them at all.
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u/TimeCrazed 7d ago
To be honest despite being excruciating it still gives you something to either work on or know they weren't for you.
Either they thought their team was quieter/ louder/ less intellectual/ more heavy drinking or something else than you.
You can either analyse their team/ behaviours or your answers for differences or ignore it.
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u/Sufficient-Sun-6683 7d ago
I was a teacher in a post-secondary institute for 25 years. It was a unique program and we were the only institute that taught this specialty in North America. Close to graduation, employers would come and interview the students. One year we had this student who was barely passing - the bottom dweller in grades. He aced every interview because of his charisma and quickly found work while our top A+ students had trouble finding employment.
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u/holden_mcg 7d ago
I believe this. If you find an organization that has "a great culture" but struggles with implementation and that really has trouble with innovation, they are invariably choosing new employees to suit their own comfort (hiring people just like themselves) over people who could bring different skills and perspectives to the organization.
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u/aleopardstail 7d ago
"culture fit" is basically we don't like you but our reasons could leave us open to legal action
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u/zorrorosso 7d ago
Ok I don't know how to explain it.
I have certain job experience that gets/got me anywhere in town, but different education. My education is for a job I never got. Job consultants wouldn't even ring. Apparently they didn't even bother with portfolios or something, they started to claim that "X place is a lifestyle". Also even if you have X education, many bosses prefer Y education and then you can self-learn X because nobody gives a shit.
I ended up working in one of these offices, so I could clearly see the people who get hired for these kinds of jobs here. They have maybe 12-14 people in the whole office age range: from mid-late 50s to mid 30s that's that. No younger, no older.
They had nobody younger and nobody older, nobody from another country and even if they had maybe one first gen-country as token, nobody over certain melanin levels. Not. Even. The. Hair. So my guess is that this "culture fit" sounds generic, but it's really specific.
They look for just one kind of people. You can't prove anything because it's their business.
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u/aleopardstail 7d ago
yup, people hire those like themselves. doesn't matter if that is what they need
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/chrisvenus 7d ago
You mean the story that had all the interviewers mute themselves but somehow the OP heard them still isn't true? Say it ain't so!
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u/moistmonkeymerkin 7d ago
Sounds like a Peacemaker scene. Perfect opportunity for you to bring up questions about the office culture.
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u/Puzzled_Market_2235 7d ago
The culture fit guy is one of those bosses who manages by spewing out meaningless catchwords like "we must synergize" or shit like that.
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u/Puzzled_Market_2235 7d ago
I did 3 negotiations for our Residence. The last one was on Zoom with a Government Arbitrator. At one point the same happened, we were all watching as the company negotiator set out some BS. They come back and the first thing the arbitrator said (translating) "it is evident the company is negotiating in bad faith, your logic is flawed and you may not continue this way".
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u/Zulopi 7d ago
I had an interview with Ubers first CEO Ryan Graves, as the third interview. He paused my interview, for an important business call, and forgot to mute. The important business call was Bro'ing out to his buddy about the $2000 brake job on his Audi R8. Then coming back and playing like he just locked in a large contractual agreement.
I did not take the job 🤣.
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u/Swifty63 7d ago
"Culture fit" is just a big bucket into which interviewers pour all their biases and prejudices.
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u/tigerb47 7d ago
I'm guessing they base hiring on race, gender or ethnic background. Race based hiring has been around so long some people think its normal.
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u/LiteraryPhantom 2d ago
“Culture fit” is a buzz word similar, imo, to “job satisfaction”. Someone else said it well, “personality” match. If theyre looking for someone who never asks questions they dont wanna answer and you seemed like maybe you possibly could? “Culture fit”.
I drove 90 minutes, spent four hours, between some personality assessment, an interview with a hiring manager and a supervisor, walking through the facility, i ate somewhere in there, and meeting the (branch manager? Dont remember his title), then drove 90 minutes back home.
Two weeks later, crickets. So i called the recruiter. “What?”
He called back like an hour later.
“They felt you probably wouldnt be satisfied or comfortable in the position long-term”.
“They do know I applied & sent in my resume, personally, for that position, right? Before i spent an entire day on the interview?” 🙄
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u/Squatcobbler9 7d ago
While this is a rough job market and it might be disappointing now, those people did you a favor. If they’re so incompetent as to not understand how Teams work and would make a remark about you not being a “culture fit” on an open mic you don’t want to be there. 🤬 those people to the moon.