[India] Interview/Negotiation experience

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Jun 28, 2021 11 Comments

Long post alert. Sharing some of my lessons, which I shouldn't have done, but I did and some generic info.

1.If you applied for job X, but recruiter says your profile is matching to a requirement Y. Then try to probe if that req is opened actually. If not, probability of getting an offer is pretty less and you can only get experience at an expense of your time. That too at times, if the interviewer is cocky, it spoils your day and may affect confident for other interviews.
Companies where I faced this: Swiggy, Navi, Confluent
With all these companies interview went pretty well, but i either got lowball or recruiter ghosted me.
Lesson: If there's no actual req, then they are just looking casually. If you pass, you'll face budget approval issues, they cannot extend the offer unless you are a specialist. Because this is a non-critical req. 🤷

2. When you are talking to a TA, never ever share the counter offer info right in the beginning. Even if they are your close friends. You can probably share the numbers. But DO NOT share the company's info/role. I did this mistake, because the TA is my acquaintance, but the TA manager is not. Paid the price. The TA in company AA had worked in company BB and the TA in company BB had worked in company AA. Now both know's the salary range. This itself enough to cap the potential TC raise. The Indian TAs are notorious to get these, tell them I'm ok to share these info for verification purpose only when we arrive to an offer.

3. Don't let your TA know that, you are in a hurry, some guys are ok to speed up, some are egoistic, they'll just comeback and tell you, either they are down-levelling or lowballing. This is not because of TA, but the decision need to be taken else where, and if their pipeline is healthy, probably you'll be let go. Spoils your chance and gets you a decent rejection after a good interview: lowball or downlevel.

4. Always choose the companies where you can join, if that is the only offer you get. Leverage that for better offers or better companies. If you get in a not so good company, and started exit process... you may not be able to leverage that offer for a better one and you might end-up in soup.

5. For the foul players: Never play around the numbers in mail/pdf, all these TAs know the range in most of the companies, because some of them or their friends worked directly or as RPO or contractors. So they can definitely catch if the counter offer is a legit one or not.

6. You need luck, wait for your turn. My interviews went well in these cos (not even a single negative round): Linkedin, Swiggy, Confluent, Navi, Oracle (OCI). One got a lowball, others ghosted. There's simply too much going behind the scenes, which is not in our control, move on. Excluding Swiggy, none of them shared any feedback. Even the positive feedback, profile being liked by HM and Director also didn't yield an offer.

7. Take the blind numbers with truck of salt. Sometimes folks just post the numbers for sake of likes/trolls. If someone at 7yoe got 70L in a company, doesn't mean that you'll get the same at 10yoe. Each hiring manager, director, budget differs. Especially in startups, there's no compa-ratio, one SDE-2 would get 30L, whereas another SDE-2 would get 50L.

So which one bit me harder? The first two and the last.

YOE: >11
TC: 60L

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TOP 11 Comments
  • Informatica / R&D
    JaiSriRaam

    Go to company page Informatica R&D

    PRE
    Google
    JaiSriRaam
    I am really curious, how come you guys get these offers all at the same time.. Whenever I receive any offer, recruiter wants me to close it in 2 days.
    Jun 28, 2021 4
    • Media.net / Eng
      legoblox

      Go to company page Media.net Eng

      legoblox
      I try not to accept and then decline instead I ask for some good time. A week always seems reasonable. If they are still adamant then do what op says. They anyways are prepared for it. And basically they asked for it.
      Jun 28, 2021
    • Informatica / R&D
      JaiSriRaam

      Go to company page Informatica R&D

      PRE
      Google
      JaiSriRaam
      I assume this might be possible for mid-senior roles. For SDE-1/2 the pipeline would be flooded so recruiters will be having an edge
      Jun 28, 2021
  • Media.net / Eng
    legoblox

    Go to company page Media.net Eng

    legoblox
    Very good compilation mate. Having done a lot of interviews I can definitely agree to most of your points.
    Sometimes when a recruiter calls you I guess be upfront about an offer. Dont name the firm say its a top faang and this is the pay I expect. Finished. Else you will unnecessarily interview for a role which cannot pay you anything neerby. Saves your time.
    Also you can ask recruiters to speed up I guess. They mostly oblige if you are a strong candidate but ideally do this after your phone screen or something.

    My only extra 2 cent to add. Collect offers in such a way that your dream company offers come at the end so you can use most of your previous offers to negotiate to get role and best package at dream firm. It is important to align your interviews correctly.
    Jun 28, 2021 0
  • New
    MunnaBhaai

    New

    MunnaBhaai
    Thanks for sharing
    Jun 28, 2021 0
  • Amazon / Eng
    chitear

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    chitear
    How do you suggest negotiating when we have multiple offers at the end?
    Say I have offer from A of 50. B is offering 45. How do I make B offer more than 50 ? If I show B A's offer they will only match it.
    Jun 28, 2021 1
    • Tell them you'll consider B only if it is A+5lpa.
      The idea is not to be unrealistic/unreasonable either. Keep a balance of good faith and smartness. :)
      Jun 29, 2021
  • New
    TUnk47

    New

    TUnk47
    Forgive my noob question, but what’s a TA?
    Jun 28, 2021 1
    • New
      bilden

      New

      bilden
      OP
      Talent Acquisition (Recruiter)
      Jun 28, 2021