Drury Hotels

Application

I applied online. The process took a week. I interviewed at Drury Hotels (Indianapolis, IN) in November 2018.

Interview

I have submitted my resume to this company 2 other times when I found the GM position had come available. I have always pursued it because I heard good things about the company, and it was in my local area. I had been working with a larger Marriott franchised hotel (as GM) in the area for a couple of years but they did not offer many benefits. When I saw the position posted for a 3rd or 4th time within a 2 year period, I quickly looked up the Drury Recruiter contact online. I sent an email and he got back to me the following week. The first interview with the recruiter went very well. He asked a lot of very engaging questions related to my knowledge of hotel revenue, team building, etc. I was prepared and felt I answered his questions to his liking. He quickly referred to me the RDO and I was contacted by the RDO within the same day. The RDO wanted to meet quickly, and said he heard good things about me from the recruiter. I was asked to drive 3 hours (one way) for the interview with him. After driving 3 hours and highly excited to meet him and introduce myself, once I met him, I got the overwhelming feeling that he did not have the slightest interest in meeting with me. He asked some questions, I asked some questions and then he indicated the interview was over. All within 15 minutes at most! I tried to engage him further and conveyed to him my long time experience working within that hotel's market; how I knew all the key company contacts in the area, and have a track record of success at the hotel I was at, and why I wanted to work for Drury. I told him I was very interested in the position and working together. He didn't seem interested to continue the conversation, then he said he would have the recruiter reach out to me - immediately I understood this as a negative step in the process. After the interview I sent the RDO a thank you letter and again conveyed my eagerness to be a part of their company.

I did disclose to the recruiter that I had gone through a serious illness, so that a small gap in my employment could be explained. I felt like because I disclosed this information, it may have scared them from hiring me, and they simply went through the additional steps so as not to appear that way, even though I had since recovered.
I was just disappointed to spend 6 hours round trip driving in the car for a 15 minute interview that I felt completely disregarded the entire time. Like they were just going through the motions, knowing full well I was never a true candidate in their eyes. I 'm not sure why, because I have managed larger Marriott properties within that market. They could have benefited from my expertise in the local market, as the last GM's had all been pulled from other outside states.
I never received any response from my thank you letter, and I contacted the recruiter the following week to inquire about the position and my interview. I was told that other candidates are being considered at this point. Very disappointing experience. After the 6 hour drive, and then a lousy second interview with the RDO, I felt that at least I knew I wouldn't want to work for someone like that; who gave no warmth or a hint of consideration.