I have to say that is probably one of the worst interview experiences that I've ever had. It's too bad, because I really believe that this is a great company with a great culture. I was referred to this position for an internal employee. The recruiter reached out initially to set up a time to do a phone screen. She asked me for availability - I gave her days and times and then I heard nothing. I reached out again, she suggested two times, and I picked one and asked her to confirm. She never confirmed. I had to reschedule so I reached out and suggested two more times. She didn't respond until I sent an e-mail asking what was going on. I suggested that maybe this was a courtesy interview because I was an internal referral and if that was the case, I really didn't want to waste her time or mine. She finally got back to me and apologized saying that was not the case, and confirmed a phone screen time for me.
The phone screen was weird. She was totally unfamiliar with the job and it seemed that she hadn't even reviewed my resume. She suggested she needed a full salary history, I thought this was a weird place to do this - but I did submit it (I don't really think my current salary has anything to do with how I would negotiate for this position - but if the information made her feel better, I was happy to supply it). She then went on to explain that even though the job was advertised in Mountain View, CA that the job was actually going to be located in Omaha, NE. I was surprised. When I asked why the discrepancy in the posting, she told me that they weren't getting the right kind of candidates from the Omaha area, and they thought they could find more appropriate applicants from the Bay Area. This was a shock to me, but I was interested in the position and figured I'd continue with the process.
She got in contact within a day or two and said that the hiring manager wanted to meet with me but it would need to be done ASAP as she was going on vacation. I did some re-arranging of my schedule to fit in a phone screen - and again had to reach out 2 times to get a confirmation of my phone interview. The interview with the hiring manager went well. It was short (30 mins). After that interview was finished it was a week before I heard anything from the recruiter. Again, I thought the process was over, but was surprised when I got a request to do 3 more interviews. A recruiting assistant scheduled those interviews and it was relatively painless. I talked to 3 different managers at the Omaha location who all seemed passionate, smart and dedicated. After these three interviews, I heard nothing. I reached out on 3 different occasions (limiting my contact to once per week) but every attempt to reach out was left unanswered.
I finally decided to withdraw my application from the process. I'm a passionate believer in the fact that companies will show you how they treat their employees through the interview process. I wrote a very nice "thanks but no thanks e-mail", similar to the ones that applicants get from companies all the time! Within 4 hours I got an e-mail from the recruiter asking me why. I explained my reasoning as nicely as I could telling her that from the very beginning I shared with her my desire to work for a company that treats their employees well. I told her that the lack of communication, follow up and concern for me as an applicant was indicative of a company that can't respect employees. She begged me to re-join the process, told me that the hiring manager was VERY interested in me and wanted me to move onto the next phase, but vacation schedules had made the process drag on. She told me that it was her fault that I hadn't received follow up, and please don't blame the company.
A week and a half later, I got a phone call from someone I've never talked to before. She went on for about 10 minutes about how the hiring manager and the other managers really liked me and wanted me to move on, and then in some awkward point in the conversation, she said, "but you lack domain expertise". We had covered this is in the interview and I knew that, but I was told that "fit" and "passion" were more important, so I didn't think anything about it. But then she started in on "if we know of other positions, we'll keep you in mind" and I was confused and suddenly realized what they were saying. I said, "so I'm not moving on" and she said "correct". I said, thanks and goodbye. It was absolutely the strangest phone call I've ever had from a recruiter. I'm not used to talking to recruiters that aren't straight talking and honest.
