I was internally referred by a senior leader and two talent acquisition representatives fought over connecting with me [to gain the commission credit for placement] for the first phone screen. Believe it or not, they both called me and asked if I had spoken with their department colleague and explained why. Shame on me for not recognizing this behavior, but I looked past it. Two days later I spoke with the hiring manager for 45 minutes. The following week, I was invited onsite and met with 3 individuals, including the hiring manager (head of sales operations/enablement).
One individual was not on time, ran long, was constantly checking his phone for messages and generally disengaged. Anther individual was absolutely pleasant, and the hiring manager was very engaging, but struck me as a little unprofessional with some of his borderline inappropriate interview remarks (asking about partying in college and getting “wrecked” over beer pong with his neighbors). I noted this as a "yellow flag" but continued to proceed.
Fast forward, the hiring manager shared a “confidential” presentation [according to him], talked about his vision, and commented on how impressed he was with my skillset. During the interview, which in aggregate ran 90-minutes over, the hiring manager asked for professional examples to support the narrative and said he wanted to bring me back in very quickly to meet with my eventual stakeholders. On two additional occasions, the manager said he thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and that I was the candidate he was seeking. He asked for my availability and said either he or a member from HR would be in touch the next day.
The next day occurred and I actually received a 'thank you' note from a member of the interview panel before I could even submit a note myself. The call from the manager/recruiter never came. I attempted to follow up twice via email and once via phone with the manager and recruiter, but was met with crickets. It turns out the questionable professionalism I sensed was a bigger issue, as I never received any correspondence, not even a rejection. Furthermore, considering I was a referral, you would think this individual would handle the matter with more tact.
Ironically, 6 weeks later, a different recruiter within a different department reached out to me, unbeknownst that I had previously interviewed, and wanted to invite me onsite for a similar opportunity. I explained the situation and she told me that ‘it didn’t surprise her and that this wasn’t the first time she heard this’, but asked me to look past my tarnished experience and interview. I politely declined, she understood, and we agreed to keep in touch.
Unfortunately, my experience was not dissimilar to other reviews I have read on Glassdoor and other job placement/networking sites. It is a shame that a few bad apples can tarnish the professional brand so easily.
