I had an interview in 2019 for an iOS developer position. The first red flag was in the beginning. Even before I had a talk with a real person they gave me IQ test))) Are you guys Google or something with this approach?) However, I was curious about interviews in the Netherlands and completed it successfully. After that, I was provided with an honor to talk with an HR. After the second talk, another red flag appeared. It was a test assignment, like every stupid 2 screens assignment, that every developer has done a minimum of ten times. They were too busy to look at GitHub, that I've provided, which contains almost the same stuff, that they asked. I've passed the assignment part (like somebody not) and there was a good part of the interview process, the company asked me for onsite probation day at the Amsterdam's office. Actually really cool of such small company arrange this kind of thing. They also paid for airline tickets and a hotel near the office. BUT! I was expecting mostly a day, where people from the company would show me how do they work, show me the project and describe their tech stack and approaches and etc, etc. Instead of it, they put me to do iMessage extension for the whole working day! First thought was ok, you just put me here to do real work, but then it ended up, that the tech guy didn't have a real plan, what even I should do and what should be the result. The idea was that I need to figure out how the project works, and connect their network layer to the iMessage extension and do something with it. Sounds quite easy, right? However, their network layer couldn't work with anything, because they are bank and have a lot of security certificates. So, my goal was to attach the nonworking library to the iMessage extension. And of course, nobody told me, that nothing works by itself. Most of the day I spent on figure out, what they really want from me. However, I figured out what I could provide to satisfy them and I did it. Afterward, I had a talk with some product guy and he told me, that I passed and they are going to gave me an offer within 10 minutes. Good right? No! The offer was a joke. They wanted to give me around 40k per year))) I was already experienced guy with team-leading experience and almost 8 years as an engineer and these people made an offer like I'm trainy. Actually a couple of days later I got an offer from another company, which was twice bigger. There were also several red flags as well. The first one was that they had a diner at 19:00, usually in the Netherlands people work not later than 17 or max 18. It could show that they trying to keep people as much as possible at the office. Actually, when I asked questions about the processes in the company I've already had a feeling, that they pushing extreme deadlines a lot. The second I saw the iOS app codebase... It's an objective-c spaghetti nightmare. I'm not saying that the developers are bad, I don't know, but clearly they have deadlines all the time and don't care much about quality. Resume: be very careful with these guys. They are really nice while talking with you, but it’s clearly not a good atmosphere in the company.

I interviewed for an iOS Developer position and unfortunately had one of the worst recruitment experiences I've had. The process moved through two interview rounds, but communication was inconsistent from start to finish. After my second interview, I was told to expect feedback within 5–15 days. Instead, I received an automated email stating that my application had been closed because the company had not heard from me, even though I was waiting for their feedback. The company later admitted this was their mistake and reopened my application, but it created unnecessary confusion and significantly reduced my confidence in the process. Another disappointing aspect was the lack of human interaction. At no point did I have a conversation with a recruiter or hiring manager outside of the interviews. The process felt heavily automated, with long periods of silence and generic communication. It gave the impression that efficiency and automation were prioritized over the candidate experience. I understand that companies receive many applications, but if resources are limited, expectations should be managed accordingly. Candidates invest considerable time preparing for interviews and deserve timely communication, transparency, and meaningful feedback. To their credit, when I raised these concerns after the process, they acknowledged the mistake, apologized, and responded professionally. However, that did not change the overall experience. **Pros:** Interviewers were professional. **Cons:** Poor communication, excessive reliance on automation, long waiting periods, administrative errors, and a lack of transparency throughout the recruitment process. **Advice to Management:** Invest more in the candidate experience. Ensure applicants receive accurate updates, reduce unnecessary automation in communication, and remember that interviews are a two-way evaluation. A poor hiring process can discourage strong candidates from wanting to join the company.