I had to go through this painful process with another fairly well known SF company. After 4 rounds of phone interviews and a 3 hour long coding test, I was flown there. It was extremely nerve-wracking, and in the end expensive for both parties, since I a) didn't get the job b) travelled ~6000 miles to figure that out.
They told me they had paid for my hotel and I got there and there was no reservation. This is something they do because they can get away with it - they bet on most candidates not mentioning anything, and it allows them to cut costs on long-distance recruitment. Which right away turned me off of this company. I probably should have mentioned it anyway, but I felt it was underhanded enough that they are the type of people who would have penalized me for saying anything.
I was very ill at the time with a neurological condition, so that made things about 1000 times worse for me. Questions that should have been easy were difficult.
In retrospect I wish I had turned down the referral offer. It is not a company I would have liked to work for.
So companies - just be more considerate to your candidate's time and money, and when you say you've made a reservation, make it. I understand this is a cutthroat business, but I bet you can manage to do it without dishonesty. God only knows you have enough VC money to burn through.
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I had to go through this painful process with another fairly well known SF company. After 4 rounds of phone interviews and a 3 hour long coding test, I was flown there. It was extremely nerve-wracking, and in the end expensive for both parties, since I a) didn't get the job b) travelled ~6000 miles to figure that out.
They told me they had paid for my hotel and I got there and there was no reservation. This is something they do because they can get away with it - they bet on most candidates not mentioning anything, and it allows them to cut costs on long-distance recruitment. Which right away turned me off of this company. I probably should have mentioned it anyway, but I felt it was underhanded enough that they are the type of people who would have penalized me for saying anything.
I was very ill at the time with a neurological condition, so that made things about 1000 times worse for me. Questions that should have been easy were difficult.
In retrospect I wish I had turned down the referral offer. It is not a company I would have liked to work for.
So companies - just be more considerate to your candidate's time and money, and when you say you've made a reservation, make it. I understand this is a cutthroat business, but I bet you can manage to do it without dishonesty. God only knows you have enough VC money to burn through.