Was looking to transition from experiential event production to event management, applied, was invited to a non-descript office building. Waited with a group of individuals that did not seem to be event production professionals- which should have been my first clue- then brought into what I believe was the CEO's office for a group interview. To their credit- they were very upfront that this job wasn't for everyone and I very much respect that. We were given a semi-informative speech- told we would be around 34K (less than most hourly Warehouse Workers in NYC- not ideal for true event professionals). I do applaud the honesty: That being said they had a bizarre requirement about "proving you want this job by bringing a dozen or so people to a party". This is not so much event management job in the traditional sense but rather some odd hybrid of party promotion and ticket distribution management. Wacky as all get out- but if that's your thing and you don't mind getting paid less than a Barista- hey, more power to you! The owner then gave us all the chance to leave before our 1:1. Me and another woman took him up on that and had a lovely conversation about the event industry on the elevator ride down. True event management professionals: this not your gig.

The interview process was easy. I applied online, got an email for an interview at the Philadelphia office with the date, hour and to dress in professional attire. I arrived 15 minutes early. They started late, they wanted to wait a couple of minutes to see if someone else arrived since they do group interviews. They asked to be in professional attire but no employee was dress with a professional attire, they weren’t even dressed business casual, I normally don’t mind about that since I was the one that need to be “presentable” for the interview but sometimes is good to see they’re prepared and want to make a good first impression. Now for the interview process, they do a group interview, which is more of him talking about the company, what they do, busy seasons, special events, salary and benefits. Then, he asks us to prepare our answer for the following questions for the one on one, why should we hire you and why are you here? He wanted us to be ready for that one on one elevator sales pitch. Now here is were it gets interesting, he says the interview process consists of 3 parts: That first interview (15 minutes presentation and 2 minutes one on one to answer the questions) Bring 20 friends to a bar on a Friday night If you complete the 2nd part then they call you for a more in depth interview with him. When I first heard the 20 friends to a bar thing, I thought it was a scam, but he then explain he wanted to see our organizational skills and if we couldn’t get 15-20 friends to go out on a Friday night maybe events wasn’t for us, so I decided to go along with it because it was something fun to do with my friends and we probably were going out anyways so why not try a new Philly place. So I received the email with the location and some instructions, that I followed & I know my friends followed (saying my name at the entrance in order to count them as my guests). My friends spent more than $400 that night and yes they did had fun but they went because they wanted to be supportive and help me out. I waited for them to contact me that next Monday, but they didn’t. I remembered he said Halloween was one of their big events and since it was around that time I decided to wait. Then I wrote an email to the girl that sent all the interview information to follow up. First I wrote a really professional email, thanking them for their time, saying my friends had a blast that night and that I was looking foward to hear from them and what the next step was. I still have not received any communication from them, and I might not have been selected but to not even respond me is really shocking. It was a total waste of my time and my friends time and our money since we could have stayed near our neighborhood and gone to other places. I think it’s a very unprofessional way to handle things.