# The Hiring Manager Said She Was Excited. Then She Spent 45 Minutes Trying to Break Him.

**[TRUE STORY]** — by Senior platform engineer · via r/recruitinghell

A senior engineer walked into a video call expecting a standard technical interview. The hiring manager had previewed the conversation as something she was genuinely looking forward to. That lasted roughly thirty seconds.

The manager opened by questioning whether the candidate was even qualified for the role he currently held. When he answered a technical question on architecture, she pivoted to leadership. When he described leading a team, she questioned whether he had been hands-on enough. When he provided metrics, she asked why the numbers were not higher.

Each answer produced a new, unrelated line of attack. The candidate described it later as a "fake moving target interview" — a format where no response is correct because the interviewer is not listening for one. She was constructing reasons to disqualify, not evaluating competence.

The candidate posted his account on r/recruitinghell under the title "Why do companies interview people just to try to humiliate them?" The thread drew thousands of comments, with many speculating the manager was either justifying a pre-existing decision to reject or softening the ground for a lowball offer. Others recognised the pattern from their own experiences: an interviewer who arrives with the verdict already written, treating the call as a formality to be endured rather than an assessment to be conducted.

*Source: [r/recruitinghell · viral](https://newsable.asianetnews.com/india/candidate-says-hiring-manager-tried-to-humiliate-him-viral-reddit-post-articleshow-cx2b23v)*
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