I saw a post recently about asking questions during an interview.  It reminded me of an experience I went through some time ago. 

I was living in Austin and was referred to a role by one of the leaders at a tech company.  The interviews were managed by a 3rd party agency.  We got the onsite interviews scheduled, 4 interviews, the first one being with a Recruiter on the team.  I get into the first interview, and this recruiter spent about 10 minutes telling me how great he was.  How he “crushed his goals”, was the “top performer every quarter”.  I think he had a few espressos before our interview. It moved well past humble bragging to when will he stop… 

We did the interview, and he asked me if I had any questions.  I mentioned how he stated he crushed his goals, top performer…and asked him how he did it.  How was he so successful?  What’s the secret sauce? 

He said, “I work 90 hours a week.” 

I wanted to get up and walk out of the room right then.  I knew I would not be successful at a company who praises their top performer for working 90 hours a week.  If that is what it takes to be successful at this company, I won’t be successful. 

For the record: I have worked 90 hour weeks, when needed to meet a deadline or get a product out. Not every week 

I couldn’t leave!! I was referred in by a leader, I had to ride this out! I had to be professional.  I had to maintain my reputation.  I took some drama classes in college, so I tried my best to act like I was interested in the job during the rest of the interviews.  I tried to give thoughtful, thorough answers to their questions, I tried to ask questions. 

When it was over, I thanked everyone for their time, went down the elevator, got two steps into the parking lot and called the recruiter to let her know I am withdrawing myself from consideration.  “WHAT?” she asked a few times.  How could I do that?  I said it wasn’t the best fit for me and left it at that.  I hope they found someone to work 90 hours a week… 

When you are interviewing, ask questions.  You want to know what you are potentially getting into.  If I hadn’t asked that question, who knows…I might have been offered the job, and taken it.  And been miserable!  I probably would have failed to “crush my goals”. And would have been back on the job hunt 2 months later.