So whoa. I have never left Glassdoor commentary on interviews before now, but this experience warrants it. I had a first round interview here and the impression was inexplicably bad. First off, I’m someone that has a decent position already, but regularly keeps an eye out for open jobs I think are interesting. I’ve participated in tons of interviews over the years from both sides of the applicant and the interviewer. That said I’m pretty comfortable in the interview setting, but this one… Before I had said anything beyond the standard “Hello, nice to meet you” it was clear that the interviewer was annoyed to be taking the time to speak with me. Condescending right from the start, the entirety of the interview felt like being talked down to by a tech bro. On my side I delivered the same friendly, knowledgeable dialogue about my experience that’s been well received plenty of times before in interviews. But the interviewer’s responses were blunt, negative, and at every turn felt like the verbal equivalent of an eye roll. I still don’t understand why there was this tone of antagonism throughout. I should add that this was a position I felt I was overqualified for. As part of the application I even entered a salary requirement lower than my current pay just because I thought the job sounded interesting, and their location meant I could save money on my commute. All things I did in good faith, thinking this might be a cool company I might want to work for. Boy was I wrong. The interview was a video call, so maybe that had something to do with the lack of formality, but I certainly didn’t expect to be talked to in the style of a flippant, bored teenager. So what happened here? It’s still a bit of head scratcher. It could be that their HR is setting up interviews without first vetting their selected applicants with the hiring manager. I may have fallen victim to speaking with someone who wouldn’t have approved the interview in the first place if their recruiter had run my application past them first. If that’s the case, then note to Endless Entertainment HR: please include the hiring manager when screening your applicants. Otherwise you waste the time of the applicant and the interviewer. If that’s not it, than wowzers, work on your bedside manner. Your applicants are devoting their time and effort too, and the act of applying to a job at your company in itself is a gesture of goodwill. Interviewing an applicant for an open position inherently means speaking to many people who you will turn down. Only one applicant from those many will receive a job offer, but this shouldn’t mean that all others should be meant to feel degraded from the experience. There is a polite way to show someone the door. PS Good luck with your non-original business model! Visual novels have been around for decades, and it’s nothing new even if you call it an interactive storytelling experience :)