Interviewed Aug 2009 in Orlando, FL (took a day)

The company posted a job on the Internet about a month ago.

I applied for the job and received an email yesterday inviting me to “apply for the job” at their web site. Before I spoke with anyone I had to complete an online application and background check release. Once I completed this today I got a call from a senior recruiter asking for a phone interview.

The interviewer called me about 10 minutes late apologizing stating she had a lot to do and because of recent company cuts she had extra workload. I thought this was odd. It appears as they screen all applicants by phone before sending the resume to the hiring manager. I am happy to say I passed this point but I feel I am up for a big long ride as far as work if I do get this job. Unfortunately, it is better than unemployment.

As far as questions, they asked me about my past experience and my overall knowledge in the field. They asked me about the reasons for my last employment departure and seem very interested in numbers. I had my last performance evaluation at hand and since it was really good I shared it with her both by phone and e-mail. They asked me about my education. For some reason they were very interested in my education level. The conversation developed ergonomically and I think it was very pleasant. I am concern however at the lack of personal touch in the whole process. I could tell the interviewer was filling in the blanks and not listening too much of what I said.

This is what you can expect:

1. You apply for a job and sit back as they will send you an e mail about 3-4 weeks after, if they feel you qualify

2. If you are lucky enough to get an email they are simply inviting you to apply to the job at a different website. I thought I applied for the job already but, it was just a screening tool (wasted time)

3. You log on to this website and enter the company code they give you. You have yet to speak with anyone and you are asked to sign releases for a background and financial check! They then make you go through the who application process by entering the information you already entered and they have in the resume they reviewed in order to send you the e-mail inviting you to apply! Seems like a redundant job to me but, they have the checkbook.

4. I received a call from a recruiter asking me for availability in order to complete a phone interview which I wonder why she could not do at the time (she did not ask if I was OK to speak about the job at the time of call. In any event, I set up a time for the phone interview.

5. AT the time of interview I started wondering if my listening skills were wrong as the call was missing... About 10 minutes after the scheduled appointment I receive a call from the home office recruiter stating she was sorry but she was delayed on other duties and because of company cuts she was hard pressed to get a deadline... Now talk about odd...

My interview went really good as I anticipated. She was very excited about my qualifications and at that time she realized I fit the job better than most. I have to say I had a pleasant interview. The questions asked were about my overall qualifications about the job. They were very interested in my educational background, which I knew it would not be a problem for the job. She seemed particularly concern about the reasons for departing my former job and asked me questions that made me feel she wanted to know if I am a people person.... The conversation developed ergonomically from there on. She asked me if I was interviewing at any other companies and asked me if I had already given the releases to the other companies. I thought this was odd. I told her two companies have been interviewing me and have asked for the information in the last week. She immediately told me she was sending the information to the hiring manager and I should be getting a call for an interview. Hello.... Can you leave me more confused now? I felt the question about other opportunities was inappropriate as it made me feel as I was pretending to give them what they wanted to hear instead of a casual phone interview about my skills and what I can bring to the company.

Now the best part of it all is... I have to start all over again because the hiring manager has no idea of all the work I have done in order to get my resume to them so they schedule an in-person interview. Hopefully, they won't make me feel, as I am lucky to have the interview because in the end they are lucky to have me!

Overall impression: We are in a very impersonal world. I felt as I could do much better from now on if I just simply give them what they want to hear instead of creating a rapport. After all, I may never hear from that person ever again... I will now sit by the phone and hope they call... If I do get the job, I must negotiate a good starting salary because that may very well be the only increase I may see in a long time.