The candidate had prepared for a week. Open-source contributions? Check. Relevant stack experience? Check. Portfolio ready, lighting adjusted, water glass at arm's reach. The startup had reached out first, expressing enthusiasm about their background.
The call connected at the scheduled time. No introductions. No "tell us about yourself." No discussion of the role. The interviewer, who did not give a name, jumped straight in: a single coding question, moderately difficult, the kind a competent developer could answer in under a minute. The candidate answered it.
"No, you're not the candidate we were looking for."
The meeting ended. Total elapsed time: roughly five minutes. The candidate sat staring at the screen, still processing what had just happened. No feedback. No follow-up. No explanation of what exactly disqualified them.
The post landed on r/recruitinghell and ignited a familiar debate. Some commenters argued the startup had already chosen an internal candidate and was running a pro-forma external search. Others suggested fake interviews for visibility — a known tactic among early-stage companies trying to signal activity to investors. A third camp simply asked: if you can decide in five minutes, why did you schedule the call at all? The candidate, who had taken time off from their current job for the interview, said they "still can't process" the experience. Neither can anyone else.