I had a great first impression of my contact at Eqal - she was kind, happy to offer information and quick to reply to emails. I was informed that her colleague would be sitting in on the interview, considering that he would be the other person the position reported to.
I arrived at their North Hollywood offices about 10 minutes early and once I checked in, I had to wait an additional 10 minutes past my scheduled interview time (meaning I waited 20 minutes in their lobby).
The woman interviewing me was pleasant enough but I immediately noticed that her colleague had a really crumpled copy of my resume in front of him (did he toss my resume in the garbage and change his mind later?). Strange, but I figured it was nothing.
After she turned the interview over to him, I realized that he hadn't actually read my resume or prepared for the interview. I answered their initial questions but based on his replies and follow-up questions, I realized he wasn't really listening either.
Guy: "You've done a lot of formal writing. I'm concerned you don't have enough experience with informal writing."
I literally had just finished providing specific examples of my experience with informal writing.
I felt that a lot of the questions were really silly (who is your favorite celebrity?). They should have been asking what type of turnaround I'm used to, whether I've written about entertainment news (I have) and whether or not I brought more writing samples. Not one of those questions (or any real editorial-geared questions) was asked.
After this, he started sighing a lot (to show he was uninterested) and at one point was even checking his cell phone during the interview! In my mind, I'd already decided there was no way I'd want this man as a supervisor. I just needed to make it through those last 10 minutes so that I could hurry up and get out of there.
To be perfectly honest, the job genuinely sounded like a really fun opportunity and the woman seemed like she'd make a great supervisor, but her colleague's rudeness made it clear that I wouldn't be called back. Fine by me!
