CSC Senior Project Manager Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Aug 2011 (took 5 weeks)

I applied for a different position initially, and received a pleasant phone interview. Due to my salary request, the hiring manager said it was out of range for the position. I thought that would be the end of it; however, the hiring manager called me back and said my skill set would be very well suited to a project management position (I am a PMP) and told me HR had been requested to transfer my resume to the new position and that he anticipated HR would call with an offer soon.

HR contacted me and asked me to answer a few more application questions online, and then shortly thereafter I received a verbal offer. I was told that they didn't like to make the written offer until I accepted the verbal offer first. I asked to have the benefits information (including cost of the benefits) sent to me to review before I gave my acceptance. I also asked if the vacation time was negotiable--all standard things that any potential employee would/should ask. It took TWO WEEKS for HR to just sent me the benefits information and even then they didn't provide the costs so that I could compare to my current position benefits. As soon as I reviewed that, I gave them my verbal acceptance that same day and then expected to receive the written offer.

After another full week of calling and leaving voice messages for HR rep to see what the next steps would be, I finally got a call. The HR representative then told me that my resume had not been approved by the client (???) and they would have to rescind my offer. I would have expected that any standard HR process would be that you have any and all necessary approvals BEFORE giving a candidate an offer. When I said that, she agreed and said she didn't know what had happened with the hiring manager, that she had never worked with him before, etc. When I asked what deficiency was noted by the client with regard to my resume she had no idea. She then asked if I had a degree??? Now, this is HR asking me that question--when they have a copy of my resume that clearly shows that I have TWO degrees--a bachelor's and a master's degree.

When I asked her if I could discuss this further with the hiring manager to be sure there was no misunderstanding about whether or not I had a degree, she said no--that she wanted everything to go through her. She said she would try to get the hiring manager to call me. As expected, I have received NO information at all. This after almost 6 weeks of wasting my time, being unresponsive, etc.

I have to wonder what would have happened had I accepted the offer immediately? Would they have realize after they hired me that "oops...client didn't approve the resume"??? This position involved a relocation for which I had already incurred some expenses to plan for housing, etc. With all of the many calls from the hiring manager initially, I was lead to believe they couldn't wait for me to get out to their location and get started.

At the very least, I simply wanted to hear what when wrong. If there was a deficiency on my resume, I wanted an opportunity to at least discuss what that was, but I have been given no opportunity to do that.

I now consider CSC to be one of the most unprofessional organizations I have ever had experience with. HR is rude and unresponsive, and apparently clueless about what the hiring managers are doing. HR gives this organization a huge black eye.