This doesn't normally happen.
This involves 4 people: two internal recruiters, L and N, the engineer/manager that I would be reporting to, Y, and Me. This happened early 2015, so snow was flying and it was difficult to schedule travel for the reason that you never knew what the weather was going to do. Fortunately, the place wasn't that far away but would have still required somewhat of a drive to get there.
L cold emailed me about a position with BigCo, and I assume she pulled my resume from BigJobBoard. The title is something like "Senior Electrical Engineer," that's not me so I emailed back and said that I didn't think I was a good fit for this position, I'm only a tech. L emails back a short time later with the standard "You're perfect for this position" and proceeds to send me a description for an electronics technician. The title and blurb were quite a bit different than what she sent me at first, so I was somewhat hesitent. However, I decide to take the interview call because who knows?
This was a basic interview, L didn't really have any kind of knowledge that was technical, so she simply asked questions like "Do you have this?" "Can you explain a little about that?" My only question to her was which of the local locations this positions was based from, she didn't know but promised to find out. We left with a "I will let you know if and when the hiring manager wishes to continue."
L had contacted me on Thursday, and the following Monday I receive an email stating that Y would like to speak with me about this position via phone, could I do it that day. Yes, I could. Y was an electrical engineer with a few decades of experience under her belt, so this was more of a technical interview. We talked about what I had worked with during my career, some of the software packages I'd used, certainly more technical than the interview with L but not really in-depth, that was promised to happen during the in-person interview. My questions were more around what kind of projects are they looking at, that sort of thing.
I did ask Y the same question as L, where is this based, as there are two locations in the local area. Y kind of goes silent for a minute then really nervously starts rambling. She lives in NearbyCity. It takes her about 45 minutes to get there. It's close to LocalHighway. ( nervous laugh ) Yeah, it's closer to LocalHighway. I'm just listening at this point, trying to read between the lines because she deliberately danced around the question. I have no idea why, but that set of alarm bells. We left with a similar "You will be contacted." I don't understand why she couldn't simply answer the question.
Update: I had the chance to speak with someone from this location. This person said that there was most likely, either conceptually or physically, someone looking over Y's shoulder at the time of the phone screen. Due to the nature of the person and thier personality - that of being a Not Very Nice Person, Y was very limited in what could be said about the job. That's one mystery solved.
Next day, which was Tuesday, L emails me back and says they'd like to do an in-person interview, what times would work for me? Would Thursday work? How about Thursday? No, Thursday promised to be a bad snow day, so I said how about the following Monday instead? L was ok with this and told me that she was going out for some medical reason, and N would contact me to do the scheduling. At this point, I didn't have N's contact information (and it wasn't provided) so I couldn't call them. L said she would probably not be checking email or phone during this time, so I said that's fine, I will confirm with N.
At the time, this company was working 4 days a week, so Monday - Thursday. I waited Wednesday, then Thursday with no call from N. Friday, they didn't work, so no call then either. I decided I would at least email L on Monday to see if they were still interested, or what exactly was going on.
Monday rolls around, I'm going to wait until about 9:30 to call and at least leave a message for L, but I receive a call about 8:30. It's N. N wants to know if something happened, because I didn't arrive for my interview. I introduce myself and say "It's good to hear from you, this is the first time we've spoken. What interview?"
Silence.
I can hear papers shuffling and keys clattering, and then she's apologizing that this doesn't normally happen, she's very sorry - over and over. Ok, so the interview was scheduled and you didn't bother calling me. After several rounds of apologies, she wants me to reschedule. I'm thinking this probably isn't a good thing, but I'm ready for a change and I figure I will at least check the place out. I say that yes, I can reschedule, but I need to schedule time off with my current situation. She's ok with that and I say that I will try to call before noon with my schedule.
11:30, N calls me and leaves a message. I'm busy so it goes to voicemail. I call her back as soon as I can, right at noon, and get her voicemail. I leave one stating that I can interview this Thursday at the same time we originally scheduled. I don't recieve any calls back from N that day. About 6:30PM, I receive an email from L. L says "Please remember to call N as soon as possible with your schedule." I email back and state "I did, I left her a voicemail at noon." L emails back about 20 minutes later and says "N is in a meeting most of tomorrow and will contact you as soon as she can." Nothing about why she did not call me today or anything. I can't remember for certain, but I believe I got the "This doesn't normally happen" spiel a few times as well. I don't know what tomorrow had to do with N not calling me back today, it sounds like she forgot again.
At this point I've checked the review sites. On a certain one about transparent entrances, the first review I can see (the one you can read without logging in) is a guy talking about how the recruiter forgot to schedule him for his interview. I'm fairly certain I'm not going to take this job, but decided to at least do the interview because you never know. The reviews aren't great, however. There's nothing really bad, per se, just a lot of "Sluggish culture," "Stuck in the 90s," "No one seems to know what's what" type reviews.
Tuesday, N and I play phone and email tag. I reiterate that Thursday is good, but N is very insistent on the following Monday. I mean VERY insistent. I'm guessing she is covering something here, trying to convince the company that she actually meant the following Monday which is why no one showed up. Ok, I'll do it the following Monday. She sends me a bunch of papers and application material and other epherma.
I start reading the material she sent. It's terribly written with lots of basic grammatical errors. Things like "Congratulation on your interview for an electronic's technician." and "The electronic's position is..." There were enough extra apostrophes in the text that I now had a lifetime supply. (I'm still u's'i'n'g up those apostrophes.)
I get to the point where it asks me to fill out a requsition online, as in an online application. Where? Who knows. Which one? Who knows. I ask N for a link or a job number, she replies "There is no link or number, just pick one in the engineering section and I will attached you to it when done."
Attached.
The remaining paperwork is a schedule of interviews. This company likes to do panel interviews, and there was three of them scheduled. Just random people, it seemed, only one of them was a technical interview. I couldn't really discern any reason why most of the departments listed would need to speak with me.
I attempt to "fill out a requisition," but their system isn't really set up for that, I do the best I can with the limited information I have available. The entire system seems to have been set up as an afterthought, and I'm not having much luck with it. I'm getting mildly annoyed with it, and all the little crap has slowly added up. I still don't know where this job is actually located, the paperwork I have doesn't match anything online, it's so poorly written I'm not sure I am following the instructions correctly, and it's just a PITA.
As I'm doing this, N. emails me back. Interview schedule has changed already, there's a fourth interview and times are different now. This was all communicated to me in a manner that suggested someone just wanted something to do that day, hey - there's an interview. I want to do that too!
At this point, all of the small things have added up and I'm no longer interested. The reviews I'm reading suggest this is the norm and not the exception. I'm just not interested in dealing with this crap on a corporate level, and I email N shortly after and say that I just don't think this is for me, and I'm withdrawing my candidacy.
I don't hear anything for a couple of days, but then L emails me and asks me to call her. I do, and she wants to know why I withdrew. I start reading down the list from the initial contact with the wrong job to the final interview schedule changes. She doesn't really seem interested, just repeating "This doesn't normally happen" to which I replied "The first review on clear portals says it does." Well, it doesn't and etc etc etc. I don't care, thank you for your time. She was completely not interested.
It was probably about two years later when I was shopping for some oddball components on eBay, and I found a local seller. I bought them, and struck up a conversation with the guy. He was looking for new work, I said let me know what you need, because I get a lot of contacts from recruiters. What he described sort of fit BigCo's schedule and job description, so I asked outright if he was working there, and said that I had turned down an interview because of BS.
He was, and he had taken the job I turned down. He told me a story of a company in distress, they were splitting divisions and cutting people as fast as they could - and then realizing they needed those same people because no one was left to do the work. Y had left within a couple years after I interviewed. Y's boss had left, and my contact was now reporting to someone far up the tree that had no connection to his division, the guy was just the last man standing. My contact said his department had gone from many strong to just him via cuts and attrition, and he wanted out. He was rather sorry he had left the job he had previously even though it was getting frustrating, but realized it was time to move on. It took him a few years but he did get out.
To me, it sounds like I dodged some bullets. I still don't really know where the job was located, no one could tell me - even in the interview paperwork, I don't remember seeing an address. I guess I'll never know. But that doesn't normally happen, does it?