I've been doing onsite interviews all over the US lately, experiencing the hiring processes of many companies. Some were excellent, others terrible, and after several trips, I've gained a lot of insights and experiences.

How do American IT companies treat candidates?

This part might be familiar to many American friends, but it's still quite unfamiliar in China. Especially since I also interviewed with several Chinese companies this time, the contrast was stark. I'm just mentioning it here to lay the groundwork for what follows; those who are already familiar with it can skip this.

The typical process in the US is from submitting your resume to negotiating an offer.

Step 1: Contact

If the other party is interested in your resume, or if they contact you directly through LinkedIn, the former is mostly popular companies or small companies (with few HR resources) and you usually need to submit your resume yourself. The latter only requires you to update your LinkedIn regularly. Moreover, the latter has a higher chance of getting an interview because it is very likely that the other party urgently needs talent and thinks you are very good, which is why they take the initiative to contact you.

This time I hardly applied myself; I only responded to LinkedIn's proactive contact. However, compared to my previous experiences, I felt that being proactively contacted was a much better experience.

Step Two: Initial Understanding

The recruiter will contact you at a set time for a 30-minute phone call to get a feel for your situation and see if you're a good fit for the position. This will include your current job, your tech stack, why you're looking for a job, why you left your current company, your visa status, and your expected salary (asking about expected salary is the limit in the US, and you can choose not to answer; it's much more comfortable than being asked a lot of personal questions in China). After the call, the recruiter will pass your information to the hiring manager, usually the tech leader or engineering manager of the department, who will decide whether to interview you.

Here's a quick note about the difference between a recruiter and HR. I wasn't sure before, but I've figured it out now. They're both Human Resources, but a recruiter is specifically responsible for finding people, while HR is a general term that includes internal human resources and, as I'll mention later, the person responsible for negotiating salary with you.

Step 3: Electrolysis

If the hiring manager thinks you're a good candidate (sometimes they'll schedule a time to talk; Amazon usually lets you speak with their manager before the phone interview just to help you understand what the team does; some companies use general hiring and don't have a specific hiring manager, so you choose your team after joining the company), you'll soon receive an interview invitation via email. Give them a few convenient times, and you can set up the interview. Experienced candidates typically undergo two rounds of interviews; after passing the first phone interview, they go straight to the onsite interview, making it quick and efficient for everyone.

Step 3: Onsite

Phone interviews are usually purely technical. If you pass, the recruiter will schedule an onsite interview with you. If it's remote, they'll arrange accommodation and airfare for you (I was arranged to fly first class once, which was great). Almost all companies provide excellent accommodation for candidates. The reasons are easy to understand: firstly, the company doesn't lack money, and secondly, they can start to "win you over" from this step, leaving a good impression so they can have an advantageous position when negotiating offers. Moreover, the higher the level of the interview, the better the accommodations arranged.

Onsite interviews typically consist of four rounds: three technical rounds and one behavioral round. Some may include a lunch interview (I've found this largely depends on whether the company provides a free lunch; those that do usually include this, so I'll just mention it here). Onsite interviews generally assess your skill level, and since you don't need to compile on the whiteboard, I personally think they're slightly easier than phone interviews, although the questions are usually more challenging. If you're an experienced candidate, there's a high chance you'll get a system design interview (I've encountered three system design interviews, no algorithm interviews, which was fantastic).

As mentioned earlier, winning people's hearts is very evident in the onsite process. After all, recruitment is a two-way selection process, especially for experienced candidates who often receive invitations from multiple companies and are likely to receive multiple offers at the same time. When making a choice, the onsite experience will greatly influence their decision.

In addition, an onsite interview is a great marketing opportunity, allowing candidates to get to know the company up close. The best onsite interviews I've seen involve assigning you a dedicated "secretary" throughout the entire process. Before the interview, they'll give you a comprehensive overview of the company, the interview process, and the job requirements. They'll accompany you throughout the interview, serving you tea and water. After the interview, they'll chat with you about your experience, salary and level, and future plans, providing comprehensive support for career planning and choosing the most suitable position. Finally, before you leave, they'll take you on a tour of the company, showing you every corner, especially the parts they're most proud of. It's a fantastic experience.

Final step: Negotiating the offer

If everything goes smoothly, you'll soon receive a call/email from the recruiter to schedule a time to discuss the offer. You can research the specifics of the discussion later tonight; I won't go into details here. After this, the recruiter will transfer you to a dedicated HR person to negotiate salary, signing bonus, stock options, start date, relocation plans, and so on. Once the discussions are complete, they will issue a formal offer.

Surprisingly, many companies have now shortened the offer pending period to one month, which provides a lot of room for negotiation. Previously, it was only one week, requiring all interviews to be scheduled in order to compete.

Points worth learning for domestic companies

Without comparison, there is no harm. In recent years, I have received interview invitations from China from time to time, and I have been actively looking for opportunities in China. However, overall, the experience of working for companies in China is extremely bad, which makes me not particularly willing to accept offers in the first place.

This is like a blind date. If the person has a cold face as soon as you meet them, no matter how good their conditions are, you won't have much interest.

The better the company, the better they treat interviewees; or rather, the more they value talent/your company, the better they will treat you. The interview experience is a very accurate mirror. In many companies, interview candidates are given very high priority, even above their own employees. I've heard of several companies that prioritize candidates even more than clients. The reason is easy to understand: without good, fresh talent, there's no future. Even if you don't ultimately end up working together, leaving a good impression makes future encounters easier!

The quality of a company's HR largely determines whether it can find good talent. Personally, I'm not likely to accept offers from companies with poor recruitment experiences, even if they offer you a job. After all, candidates have limited knowledge of the company, and if the experience is already mediocre before joining, it might be even worse after joining.

This experience wasn't so strong before, but after this interview, the difference became apparent. Tech companies generally offer similar qualifications; in a market where demand exceeds supply, the difference lies in the experience, which many companies unfortunately haven't realized. This issue is particularly prominent in Chinese companies. More and more Chinese companies are trying to recruit experienced talent from overseas, especially the US, but in my opinion, the current recruitment system isn't attracting the best talent.

Firstly, interviewers at domestic companies almost universally have a deadpan expression. I don't know if it's because they're too busy or under too much pressure, but the interviewers at the several domestic companies I interviewed with all had that same look. In contrast, interviewers at American companies are always smiling and welcoming, especially at the beginning of the interview. They'll introduce the company and team, let you understand the situation, and try their best to convince you that joining the company is the right choice. Domestic company interviewers don't talk about these things; they just finish the interview with a deadpan expression and it's over, as if they don't care if you come or not, resulting in a very poor experience.

Secondly, domestic companies ask a lot of detailed questions, while American companies focus on algorithms and system design. Although I don't like the interview methods in the US either, I hate the ones in China even more. After all, who the hell remembers the technical details? If you really don't know, just Google it, right? We don't use these things every day, and we don't really know the technology, so what's the point of asking these questions? Basically, when they ask me about technical details, I just ask them about the details of the technologies I usually use, and I shut them down. Most of the time, the interviewer can't answer, and then it ends awkwardly.

Thirdly, domestic companies don't seem to respect candidates very much. For example, they don't ask if a candidate is available; they just notify you of the interview time without even asking. I've encountered this several times, and I've immediately withdrawn. Often, they don't even ask if the candidate is willing; they just give you instructions or ask you questions in a commanding tone, which is simply terrible.

Nowadays, more and more people are interested in working for domestic companies, as they can better utilize their abilities and have more opportunities for promotion. However, the first hurdle for candidates is the interview process and experience. Domestic companies already have a poor reputation due to issues like overtime work, inhumane practices, and micromanagement; coupled with a bad interview experience, this makes it even harder to have the idea of working for them.

That's all for now.