I applied for a manager role at Lunalae, I was interviewed on the phone by the GM which went ok. Then I was interviewed by the GM and CEO/Founder via Zoom which went well. They loved my experience, my social media presence as a micro-influencer & in-depth understanding of the pole, lingerie, and fitness industry. They were transparent in saying what the salary + commission was. A couple of days later I emailed them saying I couldn't go down in base (salary) and thanked them for the opportunity. At that time I still had a good impression of them and even offered to promote their brand on my social media, and freelancing consultancy services should they need it.
The CEO called me and spoke about matching my base at my current job. I told her I had actually accepted a role elsewhere where the salary was already higher. She asked me to think about what I needed in salary. She seemed genuine and passionate to have me part of their business.
The next day I expressed what I needed, no response for 24 hours. This was already a red flag but ignored it. I followed up via email and she called me saying she wanted to meet me and asked me to put together a marketing plan. I spent two nights working on this, my time is money. I have over 17 years experience in marketing, and have design and photography skills, I am hands-on and strategic plus with 8 years experience managing teams. I know exactly how capable I am so I thought this request of hers was genuine and that she was actually contemplating on whether or not they should invest in the right person.
What I didn’t realise was the ad for the manager role was already taken down (I noticed this but thought they had a shortlist already) and replaced with a junior marketing role, graphic designer and 1 other role.
I spent 2 nights doing this detailed presentation, which I would normally charge for (and she knew this because I offered my freelancing services). The presentation was 45 minutes and then they spent another 40 minutes quizzing me. Some of the questions they were asking seemed like they would never see me again which I found suspicious. They were also asking questions that you would normally only ask once I’m already employed.
Out of courtesy I sent an email after to say thank you (this was on a Friday). Come Monday, I decided to follow up because I was given the impression that there were only 2 candidates presenting, and the CEO created the impression she needed to see my skills in order to decide if she would invest the additional money to be able to hire a senior marketer.
Again, no response until 24 hours later, where she says that she doesn’t want to rush the interview process and they are still interviewing.
I was dumbfounded and my gut that they just wanted to extract as much information from me was confirmed. I decided at that time to pull back from this horrible process which I didn’t need to have gone through because I had already accepted another job for large company. I said thank you, withdrew my application, and wished them good luck.
Despite the work I put in, the intel on the industry I shared, I didn’t even get an email to thank me for my time, nor were they just transparent and say they just couldn’t go to my salary level. Companies like these hit a glass ceiling, and you need someone to break that ceiling with the right marketing and advertising. It’s all good and well to get ideas but you need proper execution from someone who can be both strategic, hands-on, and manage a team.
You also need to build good relationships - the distaste left with me won’t do any good for their business.
I am leaving this review to ensure no one candidate goes through the same process and waste their time. Their lack of professionalism is deplorable.
