Random House Publishing Assistant Interview

Interviewed Aug 2011 (took a day)

A recruiter contacted me to set up an interview. I showed up, he is not even there. No one knows where he is (turns out, he was in another interview and forgot about me). He finally shows up almost an hour late, and then proceeds to tell me he does not think I am right for the position, and that he doesn't really believe my resume is truthful. Why contact me for an interview then? Another sticking point was that I didn't know a certain type of software that I last used in 2005. I don't even think they make it any more. For some unknown reason, he then asks his HR coworker to interview me, and the coworker found it as awkward as I did. We sat in silence for a while, and then I left. Never heard another peep from anyone. I can't really comment on the process because there was no process at all. Unless you count wasting someone's time.

To be honest, I got the impression that no one has any idea what is going on there. People were rushing around like headless chickens, and there seemed to be no captain of the ship. The arrogance was surprising, considering how bad publishing is doing these days, but I got the feeling that no one has stuck their head out of that office in the past decade to realize their ship is quickly sinking. It seems to be a place that if you get hired, you never leave and never learn new skills. To me, it seemed like one big cubical farm of people who still think publishing is in it's heyday. And if anyone with new skills comes along, it's seen as a threat to their job. I suppose it could be a cool place to work if you luck out and your team is good, but it seemed really political and out of touch. And really, the whiff of arrogance that permeated everything was truly unbearable.