Utterly unprofessional and absolute time wasters.
They may have a good platform for kids but their lack of professionalism in the industry is shocking. Hopefully the co-founders will read this and learn to treat people with courtesy.
An agency recruiter approached me looking for a Vue.js contractor which is what I specialise in as a contractor.
First stage interview was a hang out call with the co-founder and CTO and I went through my experience, they seemed very friendly and engaging.
I was offered to attend the 2nd and final stage interview in person. This is where I first noticed the lack of interview experience with the co-founder. I was asked the sort of canned interview questions where you'd find if you Googled "interview questions". These might be OK if you are interviewing a graduate or someone for a retail job but they have no place in the professional world. The co-founder then asked if I would consider going perm and when I said no despite her best efforts to hide her disappointment she became disengaged and shortly after left the interview! which was when I realised what this was all about but it was already too late and I had lost a full day managing to interview with them twice.
On the bright side, I really enjoyed the technical test and the pleasant conversation I had with the CTO who seemed more experienced.
I left the office feeling that this was all for nothing and decided to call it but apparently they had approached my recruiter claiming that they were very impressed and were going to make an offer very soon but had to get permission from the other co-founder and they kept postponing until they went complete radio silence on us both! Then I realised through my own research that they had filled the position with a less experienced developer but on a perm basis.
I get it! These sort of things happen far too often during recruitment. Circumstances change in the business world and as a contractor and a business owner I know you can't expect otherwise but there are two issues that have been bothering me:
1. They tricked the recruiter and I into thinking that they'd be interested in working with contractors and hoping they could lure a candidate into their office and see if they can turn them into their employees.
2. They have now approached another recruitment agency with the same technique looking for a second candidate. I only came to realise that when the recruiter approached me for a contract position and for the same position at the same company.
Please be up front with people and don't wast their times or if this is too much to ask at least have the decency to not repeat this again.
I don't normally leave reviews specially ones that could be seen as ranting but I truly believe as candidates we need to speak up and keep employers and clients to a certain standards.
