That was a weird experience. First, I was screened by a recruiter who confirmed my next-day interview with a hiring manager. The hiring manager was very professional and we had a great interview. He described the position in depth and told he is definitely interested to interview me with few more company leaders the next week while he is talking to other candidates. He also mentioned he is looking to close this hire in about two weeks. All signs that it should be a professional and streamlined, efficient hiring process. Finally, the hiring manager asked me to think about this position and if I feel truly aligned with it and the challenge to confirm by e-mail to the HR to be interviewed by more company leaders. I like such an approach. But exactly after that things went in some weird direction. HR didn't even confirm receiving my confirmation, she ghosted my e-mails for more than a week. First time in my life I reached the Hiring Manager directly with the words "I do not know if HR received my confirmation that you asked me for". She ghosted both e-mail and LinkedIn. Finally, after Hiring Manager reacted she returned scheduling two interviews with the company leadership same day and on site. When I looked at the date it was three weeks delay before the interview. I asked why so long delay as we discussed much faster process and she told that they are very busy. That's it. I became hesitant if I need that position. If they are hesitant to hire PMO Manager how can yo do your job later? They might also be busy to work with you later. Never in my experience any job interview was delayed for three week, even if there was vacation involved it was less. And the Hiring Manager delivered completely different expectations. Few days before the scheduled interview I got a last-minute change that first of those two on-site interviews needs to be shifted from afternoon to morning hours. It looked weird as I have another afternoon interview on-site with a company President and it was already scheduled. So I asked HR does it mean I need to wait a few hours on-site between interviews? She answered "no, another interview will happen some moment later based on the first interview results". So, they literally canceled the final interview and even forgot to tell me that. Such last-minute interview cancellations tell you everything you need to know about the company but such miserable communication tells even more. I asked does this mean our process (already many weeks long) will extend for another few days or weeks because of how busy company leadership is and even if first interview goes well we face another scheduling quest. The recruited replied "Correct" with no sign that she admits such last-minute changes and constant multi-week delays are not right. When I visited the remaining interview I was not very interested in the position just because of this experience. The company is very new to US and building a team here, you are hiring critical people to build companywide processes and implement critical systems. Your culture should be cooperative and if you treat candidates this way I doubt you understand what it means to build the right company culture. Even visiting that last interview I was not very enthusiastic about joining Coco Republic just because of my HR experience. Guess they noticed I am not very eager to join. Although the leaders who interviewed me were nice people, so I was very confused. After the last interview, I had another two weeks of silence and tried to reach HR again by e-mail, but ghosted again. First time in my life I called HR directly already knowing she likes to ghost e-mails she sounded confused but told me they have a final discussion the same day and she will definitely deliver me an update by end of the day. There was no update and I was not surprised as that became a pattern. The next day I asked again by e-mail and received a reply they decided to look for more candidates and not hiring me. First time in my life I shared my HR experience with the Hiring Manager directly by sending him e-mail. I was never treated this way after initial interview. That will be probably very first feedback from Coco Republic candidates and I feel very sorry for that but nothing is made up. If they are Ok with such an attitude towards candidates they won't be disappointed with my feedback but if they are no Ok they need to take change something. Candidates deserve minimal respect, not constant delays, cancelled interviews, changes and ghosting.
