As someone who has been steadily working since graduation, I occasionally apply to jobs and attend interviews to stay engaged with the market. Unfortunately, this particular experience left a very negative impression.
I was told to arrive at 2 PM in business casual. When I got there, around 10 candidates were already seated. It wasnât until then that I discovered the role paid only $48,000â$55,000 â nowhere near the level of spending needed to live in the Greater Vancouver Area. We were ushered into a conference room and handed a booklet with five written questions to complete using pen and paper. We were told that interviewers would come pick us out one by one.
After about 30 minutes, a man in a suit entered the room, gave everyone a dismissive once-over, and abruptly asked, âWho here wants to make money?â The room fell silent in confusion for a few seconds before someone cautiously replied, âYes.â What followed was a patronizing and aggressive monologue. He declared that the company only wanted âthe best,â had no interest in âsecond-best,â and had already disqualified four candidates based solely on their rĂ©sumĂ©sânone of whom had even spoken to anyone yet. Those individuals, he added, were still welcome to interviewâbut only for a completely different position: a commission-only, self-employed sales role with no base salary. This critical detail was never mentioned until the interview itself, making the whole setup feel misleading and manipulative. Out of curiosityâand since I had a relatively free dayâI stayed to see how this would play out. I ended up waiting almost two hours, only to be briefly spoken to about the commission-only role. The most frustrating part? No one even glanced at the written responses we had completed earlier. They were completely ignored.
The entire experience felt disingenuous, like a bait-and-switch tactic designed to funnel / gaslight people. It was poorly organized, unprofessional, and frankly insulting. Itâs disheartening to see this kind of toxic, high-pressure corporate cultureâreminiscent of exploitative practices abroadâtaking root here in Canada.