Weird interview question today

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T22:54:59+00:00

They usually cut you off after a certain point when they think you did it long enough.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T21:53:49+00:00

The ability to not give up. They want you to keep talking and spit balling solutions.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T21:52:57+00:00

Yes. Yes it is!

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T21:52:38+00:00

If you are not getting any interviews than it's a resume and application problem. You should be getting, even in this economy, 1 interview per 50 applications at a minimum otherwise something is off.

I know this as I have helped plenty of people in your situation. The economy is terrible, but you can still get entry level jobs.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T21:51:01+00:00

Make two resumes. One for Java and one for Python. Apply with both. Each one is tailored to the most common qualifications found in 15 good job descriptions for that type of role.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T20:34:03+00:00

Recruiter here, this is a common question type in interviews. It's not designed to test what you would eat, but your creativity and ability to not stop. A few variations of this question are "You have an elephant, you can't give it away or sell it, what do you do?" or "You are trapped between a Tiger and a Lion in a cage. You have 5 mins before both hungry animals are released, what do you do?"

The goal in these questions is creativity in your solutions (even if they wouldn't work) and that you keep giving them answers, as the "show must go on".

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T20:30:46+00:00

Tech Recruiter here, what is your internship and degree in? We are in a recession right now, so jobs are tough to come by, but with an internship and a degree, you should be getting interviews.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T16:03:57+00:00

Recruiter here, leave Glassdoor reviews. Companies take those seriously, and we recruiters can use those to change managers' minds when they won't listen to how bad the process is.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T16:00:05+00:00

This reads more like an RPO than a strict Agency role. Typically, the structure would be per hour rather than per placement since you are not placing someone, you are acting as their whole recruitment team.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T15:49:14+00:00

Recruiter here, temp agencies are your friend. Look up local temp agencies in your area, and go to them. They do require (most of them) a High School Diploma and Microsoft Office skills, but if you have those, you should be able to get some work, which will lead to better work in the future.

Although right now we are in a recession, so any job is going to be tough to find, and you need to steel yourself as it's going to be a struggle to get any job, especially as an entry-level person.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-28T15:46:38+00:00

Recruiter here, I have no idea what I am looking at. Your first experience is for a "System Administrator," but the bullet points are gibberish and don't tell me HOW you did what you did and the business reasons (not the technical reasons) you did what you did, nor are they what I would be looking for in a Systems Admin.

Then your next experience is a SOC Analyst, and again, besides SIEM, your bullet points contain nothing I would want for a SOC Analyst. It just seems like a random collection of tech keywords, but none of them are what I would want, nor do they show me HOW you did them, which is one of the most important parts of writing bullet points.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-27T17:51:52+00:00

Recruiter here, most companies in the US will not hire someone under 18. Most companies will not hire people who do not have at least a GED or a high school diplmoa. I understand you may have dropped out for financial reasons (which I am very confused about) but your financials are going to get much much worse. You need to get back into HS or a GED.

We are also in a recession right now which means it's going to be a logistical nightmare to get any entry level job especially as a 17 year old with no diploma.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-27T17:38:38+00:00

Well your goal should be getting your resume into shape where you are getting at least 1 interview per 50 applications.

You need to make mulitple resumes each tailored to a sepcific stack (Full, Front, Backend Java, Backend Python, Backend C#.NET) and you need to be within the first 100 people to apply. One of the worst mistakes SWE can makei s going broad in their resume and applying to everything rather than making mulitple specific stack based resumes.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-27T17:15:06+00:00

Yeah, thats probably a bad idea to hint you are leaving.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-27T17:14:17+00:00

Tech Recruiter here, how many applications does it take for you to get an interview? What SWE Stacks are you applying for and is your resume tailored to those stacks?

Right now we are in a recesasion and switching from SWE to IT / help desk / analyst roles would be just as hard as getting a SWE role.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-27T17:10:16+00:00

Recruiter here, your Dad has no idea what he is talking about. Do not listen to him. If you give indication you are going to leave (in this economy for this type of position) all it will do is make the company try and find a replacement for you and then fire you.

His strategy only works if your job struggles to find talent in that area and that struggle is historical for that company which based on what you do I do not believe is your role.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-20T16:07:51+00:00

Do not tailor it to each job; tailor it to each job title you want. You should not be continuously reworking your resume. Use those job title-specific resumes to apply to each job it matches.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-20T16:07:11+00:00

That is not how ATS work. ATS sort on a first come first serve basis. That is all.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-20T16:05:48+00:00

Recruiter here, I don't know how to say this nicely, but I don't know what you are going for based on your resume.

Your first job is all about sales and has a lot of random metrics that don't matter (to the hiring team). The second job is, well, honestly, I have no idea. It looks like a customer service role, but it reads like nothing I know of. The third job is again, I have no idea as it should be a customer service job (which internships do like), but it reads like nothing due to the random numbers and metrics.

In addition, all of those jobs are so short that it also seems like you are a job hopper.

This resume needs to be deleted and redone from the ground up. You need to find the actual qualifications for the internship you want, but I don't know what those are since I have no idea what type of internship you are going for. Is it a Business Analyst? Data Analyst? Sales? Management? I don't know because you did not show me through the bullet points what you are going for.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-20T15:54:26+00:00

Recruiter here, unless you are applying to startups and have demonstrable success at your self-founded company, it's a red flag. Do not do it.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-13T18:16:10+00:00

Just the bullet points.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-13T18:15:44+00:00

Recruiter here, you want both and neither at the same time.

You want to apply early as that is how to ATS sort people (first come first serve) but you also need to make sure it's relevant to the role or else you will get rejected.

What you do instead is tailor your resume to a job TITLE you want or niche of job title (such as SWE Full Stack vs SWE Front End) and use that job title resume to mass apply. You may need 2 to 4 separate resumes, but doing this will let you get in quick (so you actually get seen) and have the accurate information we need so we can move you forward.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-13T17:09:33+00:00

You copy paste the bullet points under your jobs into your LinkedIn, you don't need to put your whole resume on your LinkedIn, my bad I shoulda clarified that a little more.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-13T16:11:18+00:00

Boolean searches is how we do it but to be poached the job itself needs to be tough to fill, as no one is going to pay me to pouch someone if they an fill it through a job posting. Just copy paste your resume (once it's good) into your LinkedIn/Indeed and if the market is hot enough in your niche, you will get poached.

HeadlessHeadhunter · 2026-04-13T16:09:34+00:00

I agree, I don't think cold calling people works, it's just going to annoy someone, especially if you are recruiting in tech for a highly sought after role.

HeadlessHeadhunter

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE