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An employer who wasn't sure to hire me for the next step or not got me to read alot of articles, like 10?, all about their company (how they were founded, what they do, life story of the founder etc), I put in alot of effort and time to internalize everything to realise that he never got back to me on the promised date. I reached out to him and he said they decided to accept someone else. I feel angry, why made someone read all about them when he knows he might not hire the candidate, should I write a nice email to talk back?

P.s. In the first round of interview, he was talking to another client as well and is sitted somewhere with very bad phone reception.

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    What do you hope to gain by any further communication with this hiring manager?
    – dwizum
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 13:17
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    "should I write a nice email to talk back?" - No. Talking back would probably not come across as nice. Even if you are friendly, no. Just take it as a lesson and move on.
    – Brandin
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 13:33
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    I see someone voted to reopen. I'm curious about the justification for that vote, since it seems clearly off topic (needs a goal, per the on hold blurb). If this could be edited to state a clear goal and a clear question I think it could be worth reopening but not as it sits now.
    – dwizum
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 15:17
  • why did you not do the research before the interview on your own initiative
    – Neuromancer
    Commented May 19, 2018 at 14:40
  • of course I did. Those are further materials, into the history of the business and the founders' life story.
    – ttinggggg
    Commented May 19, 2018 at 18:10

4 Answers 4

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Why would you feel angry? Unless you have a signed contract, you weren't obligated to read those articles. Similarly, the company had no obligation to offer you an employment.

Do you really think you should get a position just because you read those materials? Most if not all other candidates could also do that. Why do you think your reading time should land you a job automatically?

You did that as a volunteer, nobody forced you. The hiring manager did nothing wrong, you're being unprofessional. OK... you weren't notified on the promised date, but that was quite common.

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    "Doing nothing wrong" doesn't make it right. It's sort of like traffic. If I drove up ahead and cut everyone waiting, I did nothing technically wrong since nothing says I have to wait like everyone else, but that doesn't make it right. I also caused everyone to wait even longer, but then the question is why wait when you can just drive up ahead and get where you're going sooner.
    – Dan
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 13:50
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    @Dan May I ask what do you think the hiring manager should do? Offer a job for the reading time? Or pay for the reading hours?
    – SmallChess
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 13:52
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    @Dan I respect your point, but I disagree that your example is analogous to the hiring manager's actions. If the OP didn't want to spend the time reading these materials if he wasn't going to get the job, then he should have waited until he had a signed job offer in hand before reading. This is not unreasonable.
    – Steve-O
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 13:52
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    No, we live in modern times now. Ideally he should just tell them thanks and follow up later. Also, he has options to write reviews on Glassdoor about the interview process and the fact he had to waste time reading material when he wasn't hired. HR may read it and change their procedure but probably won't.
    – Dan
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 13:53
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    @SmallChess I never said that. I said the OP has options to voice his opinion as that sounds like the question he's asking.
    – Dan
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 13:56
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why made someone read all about them when he knows he might not hire the candidate?

This is pretty typical of an Hiring Manager to dole out an arbitrary reading assignment for a potential candidate. Is up to the candidate how much of it they need to read. Typically you should know a companies business model and product at a high level at least.

should I write a nice email to talk back?

At this point, you should forget about this. Maybe even thank them for their time in a polite email ( up to you on this one ).

The reason for this is you never know what the future holds. They may have a position your better suited for later, or you have to work with them again down the road. Don't burn any bridges.

Nothing to be gained here, but this in your rear view mirror.

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  • I have NEAVER had assigned reading in this way
    – Neuromancer
    Commented May 19, 2018 at 14:39
  • @Neuromancer That's great. In your experience this probably doesn't make sense. In my experience most recruiters or hiring managers want you to know some of the basics about a company. How much effort you put towards this is up to you.
    – Neo
    Commented May 19, 2018 at 19:28
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why made someone read all about them when he knows he might not hire the candidate

Interviews are a two way street. You should be looking to see if they are good fit for you just as much as they are looking to see if you are a good fit for them.

Not having the whole story, it is hard to tell if they really required this reading or if they were giving it out as a way for you to get to know their company better so that you could be most informed in making your decision should they extend you an offer.

Yes, you should write a nice email back and thank them for their consideration, then move on to the next one.

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First off, I understand your frustration. You put a lot of time and effort into something, and you didn't get anything in return other than wasted time.

It's fairly common for hiring companies to put out a lot of material or ask a lot. My hard rule is that unless it is the second round of interviews, I don't bother with anything that takes more than 15 minutes. I write back prior that I am not interested to doing the material because there aren't any guarantee that I will even get a interview. I move on then.

You should follow a similar rule. Generally speaking companies do this to weed out potentially bad or incompetent employees. It's hard to say if it is indeed effective but it's starting to become an industry standard. I don't have anything against it but I think carefully putting tests/material should be done after the first interview.

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    Telling the hiring manager that you're "not interested to doing the material because there aren't any guarantee that I will even get a interview" seems to me like saying "just file my resume in the trash".
    – brhans
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 14:04
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    Correct, who is to say they didn't throw it in the trash already? By asking to do 15+ minutes of work and not give a interview time tells me something is wrong with the company's process.
    – Dan
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 14:15

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