Terracon Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jul 2009 in Topeka, KS (took a day)

I was already employed with the company in Casper, WY (and Lenexa, KS before that) but was looking to transfer back to the Lenexa office. While speaking with the hiring personnel in Lenexa, I was referred to the Topeka, KS office instead. I was told that they had a position I would be better suited for. They were looking for a potential project manager and that was what I was being trained for in Casper.

After speaking with the office manager in Topeka an interview was set up for a couple of days after I arrived in Kansas. I interviewed with the office manager and it ran more like a personal compatibility analysis than whether I was qualified for the job or not. My interview covered all the bases: that I had been a project manager-in-training but also worked in the field AND laboratory; that Topeka was looking for a project manager as well as someone who could work in the field from time to time AND work as acting lab manager until they hired a full-time person for that job; that I was not thrilled about driving an hour to work in Topeka instead of the 15 minute drive to the Lenexa office as had been my plan.

As I had hoped to transfer to the Lenexa office, it was decided that I would start in the Topeka office on a trial basis to see if a) I was an acceptable employee for the office and b) if working in Topeka instead of Lenexa was acceptable to me.

I left the interview with such a vague, unsatisfied feeling though. Although I had been offered a job and had accepted it, it was for an unspecified time and I realized that it was also for an unspecified position with unspecified pay/benefits. This interview set the tone for an incredibly vague, unsatisfying job the entire time I worked for that office (including being let go without even so much as a goodbye from the office manager, let alone an explanation from him of why he had decided to let me go).

This is completely different from my initial interview for the company. My original interview back in April of 2007 for the Lenexa office was very fulfilling. My interview was set up through a staffing agency. I interviewed with two hiring personnel who took me through everything from the dress code, pay/benefits, a tour of the office/lab, meeting with different employees; everything that gave me a great feel for the informal, employee-friendly culture. It was a typical interview, though, complete with intimidating questions about my qualifications and secretive looks between the two of them. At the end of that interview I was told that I had the job, it was just a matter of getting the paperwork through. That interview and first impression also set the tone for my time there. I started the next week and loved working for that office.