I didn't get a job I thought I had a good shot at--where did it go off the rails?

I suspect you're right that I'm projecting frustration. There is certainly a lot of it to project!

I guess this exercise in going through my frustration with the recruiter is ultimately getting at deciding if I want to proceed in the future without a recruiter where possible, and particularly if I want to proceed without this one.

I appreciate that input though.

  1. The recruiter had previously reached out to me about a different job, and having maintained a friendly professional relationship with him, I attempted to ask him for generic advice about a company. I went back and reviewed my correspondence with him, and I very explicitly only asked him if he knew anything about company culture or had worked with the company before. I certainly did NOT ask him to submit me for the job. If I had reached out to him out of the blue about the job, I would agree with you, but I do think that context changes things.
  2. That is naive. I am kicking myself for including a recruiter in a job hunt when I could've applied directly, because at the very least, I wouldn't be dealing with this frustration. I still can't shake the feeling that it's a little underhanded for the recruiter to submit other applicants when the recruiter did not find the job. Essentially I found a job that a recruiter will potentially be getting a nice payday from, and that job isn't going to me. Again, agree with you that I'm likely just frustrated and venting, and this isn't as big a deal as I'm making it.
  3. I'm definitely wasting my time dwelling on this one. Even if it was a factor, it's irrelevant now, and they never attempted to negotiate salary again after the technical interview. If that was truly the problem, I suspect they would have just come in with a lower offer.
  4. Thanks for reaffirming that. Hopefully the hiring manager is up for an honest conversation with me. Realistically, hearing that this is an okay thing to ask of someone professionally is my only actionable item here.

It's probably probably obvious in my tone and defensiveness that I'm just working out my frustration on reddit. Thanks for helping me realize that, haha.

/r/careerguidance Thread Parent