A job candidate shared an interview experience after claiming a hiring manager spent an entire meeting trying to “disprove” his qualifications, despite allegedly expressing excitement to interview him beforehand.
The candidate shared his experience on r/recruitinghell in a post titled, “Why do companies interview people just to try to humiliate them?”, questioning why some hiring processes felt less like evaluations and more like attempts to tear candidates down.
According to the post, the interview process had initially seemed promising. After clearing a recruiter screening, the candidate said he was informed that the hiring manager (HM) was particularly enthusiastic about meeting him.
He claimed that even after technical issues forced the interview to be rescheduled, the hiring manager continued emphasising how eager she was to speak with him and pushed to arrange the meeting as soon as possible.
However, the tone shifted dramatically the moment the interview began.
According to the candidate, the hiring manager immediately questioned whether he was actually qualified for the role, despite him currently working under the same job title.
“She basically stated that I am not (X Job Title) and that she sees ‘no evidence of it,’” he wrote, adding that he had already held interviews at similar and even more senior levels with major companies.
What followed, he claimed, felt like a constantly shifting test.
The candidate pointed out that whenever he successfully answered a technical question, the hiring manager would immediately pivot to another unrelated challenge in an apparent attempt to undermine his experience.
For example, he said she would ask whether he had used a particular software. After he explained in detail how he had worked with it, she would allegedly jump to assumptions about another tool he supposedly had not used.
When he clarified that as well, he claimed the conversation shifted again, this time questioning his leadership experience, then his hands-on involvement, and later even whether he was contributing to team development.
According to him, every answer simply led to a new objection.
Describing the experience, the candidate called it a “fake moving target interview”, saying the hiring manager appeared determined to dismiss his experience regardless of how he responded.
The post prompted discussions among jobseekers, with several users sharing theories about why some interviews unfold this way. Some speculated that companies occasionally already have preferred candidates in mind and may conduct difficult interviews with others simply to fulfil hiring formalities or create leverage during salary negotiations.
Others felt the hiring manager may have been trying to position the candidate as underqualified for the advertised role, potentially leaving room to justify a lower offer later.
A few commenters suggested this tactic could sometimes be used to make candidates feel they need to “prove themselves” for compensation below the listed pay bracket.
Several users also reflected on their own interview frustrations, saying many hiring managers appear to skim resumes or fail to properly understand a candidate’s background before interviews begin.
Some encouraged the candidate not to internalise the experience, arguing that mismatched or overly combative interviews often say more about the company’s culture than the applicant’s actual abilities.