Baxter Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Mar 2011 in Hayward, CA (took a day)

The time elapsed between initial communication and interview (telephone) with hiring manager was 4 months. Originally, the HR representative expressed interest in my qualifications and reached out to me by e-mail. A date and time for a telephone interview was requested of me, and I offered a date and time. The HR rep never responded, and I had to reach out to her the day after and again 1 week later before I could get a response. A new date and time was set 1 week after my initial proposal. The unapologetic HR rep made no mention regarding her non-response until I politely asked why she was unresponsive. The HR rep mentioned that she was out of town and that our e-mail exchanges got lost in the pile of e-mail. Okay. The telephone screen went very well according to the HR rep, and I was told that I could expect another interview with the hiring manager. 1 week passed and I e-mailed a post-interview thank-you memo to the HR rep. After 6 weeks without any callback from the HR rep, I sent an e-mail to inquire about whether I was still being considered for the position. No response came, and I began to question the professionalism of the company.
I had virtually given up on this opportunity following the positive telephone screen and no follow up call from the company.
Two additional months later, I saw an internet posting on the company website for the same job that I had applied to and for which I was positively screened. I re-applied for the position. In my cover letter, I indicated that I had applied for the position and was screened, but there was no closure. A new HR rep inquired by e-mail about my qualifications. There were about 5 questions asking about my past experience as a manager of direct reports, and about the maximum number of reports I ever had, including my reasons for leaving my last company. I immediately responded, as did this different HR rep who 2 weeks later had a third HR rep contact me to schedule a telephone interview with the hiring manager.
The telephone screen took place in a matter of days. The hiring manager (Director) was soft-spoken and cordial, and I believe he budgeted 30 minutes for our discussion, though it went for an hour. He described the job in understandable detail. He was clear about the expectations for the ideal candidate. The distribution of time for speaking for him and myself was about 60:40 in his favor. Unfortunately, we seemed to run out of time at what I believed to be a critical point in the interview when I wasn't able to provide my response concerning experience with Tier 3 investigations. In the end, I felt that the interview wasn't finished even though we hung up the telephone so that he could move on to the next scheduled telephone screen. Post-interview, I felt that I had portrayed myself as a mean manager, and this couldn't be any further away from the truth. I believe the hiring manager was looking for a manager with a passive approach, and I somehow portrayed the opposite. I realized that it was my first interview following a tough time at my previous company and this might have impacted my performance during interview, in addition to my not having been impressed with the company's delays leading up to the interview. So guess what? 5 months later, I still haven't received any feedback following my interview with the hiring manager. 1 month after the interview, I sent a thank-you memo to that 3rd HR rep who had set up the interview, and I had asked her in this e-mail whether I was still being considered for the position. To this very day, no response was received.
If this company were to call me now to offer me an interview or even a job, there's a greater than 50% chance that I would not consider this opportunity. As a former manager and director myself for 8 years, I would never, and have never done this to a candidate. I hold professionalism and respect very firmly, and this experience with the named company did not sit well with me.