Rain Bird Human Resources Interview

Interviewed Feb 2010 (took 3 days)

The company recruiter contacted me after viewing my profile on LinkedIn. She completed an initial phone interview and scheduled a phone interview with the VP. The phone interviews were basic "tell me about yourself" interviews. The phone interviews concluded with an invitation for a visit to the company to meet several members of company management. I was on my way to the airport for the flight booked by Rainbird when the VP called my cell phone to see when I would be arriving at her office-she thought I was coming that day. I am not sure what her recruiter had communicated to her but after I asked if we needed to reschedule, I was told to get on the plane and everything would be fine. Upon arriving at their office the next morning, I learned that they already had another candidate arriving at the same time and there was a constant shuffle throughout the day because people were not prepared to interview two people. There did not seem to be any preparation about roles in the interview process and the interview was very one sided. They had questions but did not seem willing to share any information about the company so it was impossible to get a clear picture of their needs. They are a very private company-only 1 or 2 people know how many total employees work at this company (for certain). After a few days, I received 1 email from the company telling me they wanted to book a second visit. About 15 minutes later, I received an email saying they had found a better qualified applicant but thanks for the interest. Overall, the company had a tired feeling-the location where the interview was held was almost empty-it was very quiet. After being in a company that had experienced a lot of difficulty and lay-offs, it did not feel very secure even though the people said they were in good shape. No detail of their financial condition could be shared.