Overall I would call it a laughable experience.
HR rep was pleasant but had no details on the position outside of what was in the job post. Follow up email asked me to submit an application... which is funny because I had already submitted and even orally reviewed my application with the email author. My name was also not spelled correctly.
End up taking a call with the hiring manager. They text me 10 minutes after the scheduled start time to say “oh sorry I’m running late coming back from lunch.” Once they do finally call we only have 8 minutes left of the 30 minutes I reserved.
While going through a quick flyover of my resume and the position, there is excessive noise in the background that I could tell was due to them being outside walking around downtown. They eventually went into the building, which lowered the noise, but when they went into the elevator the connection obviously got very choppy. I wasn’t all that disappointed by the prospect of losing signal though, since they spent more time detailing their own background and accomplishments than getting to know me. (and I mean detailing, I am confident I could describe the route of their commute from their last three jobs)
They ask a few questions, all of which clearly indicated they had not prepped at all for the discussion since the answers could be found explicitly stated in my resume.
When it came time for me to ask questions, I asked one and received a fair answer, but during the second question I was cutoff by them saying “unless you’ve got something really important to ask, I need to jump on another call”
Maybe they had decided I wasn’t the right candidate, and that is fine with me, but just tactfully say that. Frankly, I don’t care if they don’t think I’m the fit they need, but I do care when a middle manager with seemingly scarce business acumen prioritizes a soup and salad lunch over my career progression.
They could have just said “I don’t value people, your time, your interest, or your impression of my company. Oh and also, I’m a weak and insecure leader”
After all, we are talking about business basics here: managing your calendar, respecting people and people’s time, preparing for meetings, and always selling your personal and company’s brand.
Unsurprisingly there was no follow up of any sort.
Look, I personally read reviews on this site and often think “this person is being sensitive, closed minded, or even exaggerating”. That is a fair stance, especially since what I have detailed here is so far below what you should expect from a company of any size and sophistication, but what I can DEFINITIVELY say is: of the thousands of calls and meetings that I have been a part of in my career - this was undoubtedly the most unprofessional thing I have ever experienced.
For what it’s worth, I am veteran of multiple global and Fortune 500 businesses where I have held various leadership roles and consistently progressed in my career, so I think I know what being professionalism looks like, or maybe Reily has the secret sauce for professional leadership and I just don’t understand it...
I am sure other candidates have had much better experiences, and hopefully mine defines the lower bound of what is possible, but who knows?
Thanks for the wonderful opportunity, Reily.
