I interviewed at Cisco after being laid off from another big company where I worked for over three years. All the interviewing went well. I had at least 13-14 interviews over the phone, as the team was geographically distributed. I felt I did "exceptionally" well in all of them.

Later, the recruiter left me with two or three voicemails. He then started speaking to me as if he were delivering bad news. He called me two or three times. When I returned his call, he apparently wanted to extend an offer. However, he was speaking as if he were not hiring but firing me.

I declined the offer, but he still insisted I fill out the employment application and complete the background check, which was insane. He wasn't extending me the right offer – just two to three thousand dollars above my salary at the time – and wanted me to go through an employment background check.

The next morning, my prospective manager called. He mentioned he would connect me with other Linux engineers at Cisco. He also clearly stated that six months down the line, I would likely need to look for another job as their business unit would undergo restructuring and new requisitions would be RIFed. After telling me this, he still insisted I fill out the employment application.

Additionally, one of the engineers during my interview said, "I am your ATM machine." I felt disrespected by that statement. He further emailed me, stating, "In this economy, you should accept any job."

I declined the offer and stayed home until March 2010, rather than be a part of such disrespectful individuals.

I am a young kernel engineer with ten years of experience in Silicon Valley. As a woman in high-tech, I have always been outnumbered by men.

The problem was they did not want to extend me an offer, but my interviewing went really well. I had told them laughingly that I record my interviews, and they were not able to "not extend" me an offer.

Two recruiter-initiated conversations exactly matched, word-for-word, a conversation my ex-manager had with me at my previous job. The resemblance was striking, as I used to record all conversations with my ex-manager during performance reviews. I had also recorded my conversation with this recruiter.

I knew the VP at my previous job was the same VP of the group at Cisco with whom I was interviewing. Later, I checked, and both the VP and hiring manager had been fired, possibly due to their own incompetencies.

Most high-tech companies nowadays conduct behind-the-scenes informal talks by traversing LinkedIn trees and finding your co-workers' and managers' names. In bureaucratic companies, this can potentially give your ex-manager an opportunity for revenge. These back-door checks are legally not allowed; prospective employers are only permitted to check references with individuals you have listed on your employment application.

My advice is to remove your LinkedIn profile. This is for recruiters/HR, not for you. People/friends who genuinely want to help you find a job are few and should be in your trusted, close contact circle.

Packet forwarding engine implementation?

How did bandwidth control work in my previous project at my previous work?