Applied for a position for Jewelry Designer. I landed the interview and spoke with a girl ( who mentioned she wasn't employed by the company but was "helping out") via video chat and was asked to complete an extensive design project. After submitting, I was asked to come in to interview with Lorraine as they/she liked my work. I was rescheduled 4 times and finally when they set a date and time I arrived 10min early and was asked to sit down on a dingy old couch and wait for the CEO. During this time I overheard someone mention she was at a "lunch-in" at one point I saw a women leave and announce that she was stepping out (keep her in mind). Since I was sitting right at the front of the office and right in front of the girl who scheduled me I could see and hear everything going on. After about 30min of waiting I was told that the CEO was at a "meeting". About another half hour later I was told she was "very busy". I knew this was all BS because the first time one of the women slipped and said flat out that she was having lunch. After an 1hr and 30min of waiting with literally nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs (they had no reading material) I felt it was rude to be on my phone, not to mention the fact that the office was not well ventilated, super hot and stuffy. The CEO walks in with a smug smile with that women who stepped out earlier. Clearly they were coming back from a lunch. They both walked past me without a word.... When the time of me waiting hit the 2 hour mark and I was already exhausted from just sitting in that office. Even after she came back, she called people into her office to talk about some design editing and shut the door as it it was some big secret... after another 30min of that, finally I get asked to come in and talk to the CEO who went about her business chatting and didn't bother to look up at me let alone say a word until another 2-3min passed after I just stood in front of her desk waiting. We spoke for 7min tops, the conversation was bland, she didn't bother to apologize, acted uninterested, she also commented on my glasses and asked if they were fake. (because they looked so "clean" as she put it). She mentioned that they "work really hard" and that they stay at work all hours of the night but she never actually said what the office hours were. She asked me to draw a sketch of a random ring she picked up from her desk. No tools or paper were offered to do this hand sketch. I followed up a week later and a second time after and haven't heard back. At this point I have no interest in this position, although it would have been nice if after all that I at least got a polite "sorry we went with someone else" email. I want to express how unprofessional the whole event was staring from the waiting time (2.5 hours) to the lack of empathy from the front desk/assistant who didn't bother to even apologize for the lateness of their boss. Clearly they seem to think that just because Blake Lively wears this jewelry they can treat humans like crap? I bet they would never treat Blake like this... but us designers, eh, what do we matter right?. I truly feel sorry for the designer working here (who looked like she had a cold and was coughing while running back and forth). I feel sorry for the people working here in general since they seem to feel that its okay to have a person sit and wait for hours and walk around them like they don't exist. I truly used to covet this brand, I was so excited to interview here. After this experience I have a new prospective of this company and its ethics. I can only imagine how employees are treated here if this is how interviewees are treated. I am literally so thankful I walked away from this office and will never have to deal with all that. Advice to the management: People like the CEO of this company don't have empathy for people. They come from money and have no idea what its like to work hard and fight for a career when things are handed to them. My advice is more for the people working around her : don't be on the same level, have empathy, make time to respond to emails, treat potential employees (or just people) nicely. You may be stressed but its your choice of working for such a company, don't take your stress out on people who are simply looking to join your "team".
