Interview chaotic & unprofessional = job chaotic & unprofessional?

shoegirl

Yesterday I had a disconcerting experience at an interview.

I was to meet three different groups - HR, a functional group with whom I would be working, and finally the departmental manager.

I arrived 10 minutes early as usual, and one of the functional guys arrived, telling me that HR was busy with another interview. The room they had booked turned out to be occupied, so they actually took me outside for a smoke (I haven't smoked in 4 years).

Eventually another functional guy showed up and that part of the interview went as expected. Then they left me to wait for the HR person.

After about a 20 minute wait the HR person arrived. First she told me that the manager couldn't make it, then she started reading my cv as if she hadn't seen it before, and when I asked questions about where I would fit into the organisation she actually didn't seem to be clear what job I'd applied for as she gave me a number of different scenarios. What was more worrying was that she apologised for the departmental manager and said he wouldn't be able to make it, but she had questions that would be relevant for him.

However later in the interview she then said that I would have to come back and meet him again (despite the fact that he presumably was arranged to interview me on that day and for whatever reason couldn't make it). I thought this was extremely discourteous to say the least, considering he was part of a group of people I was to meet. Its actually never happened to me in probably about 30 or 40 interviews over 6 years that a "critical decision maker" has failed to make the interview and then I've been asked to come again and meet him.

Then after calling the agency who arranged the interview it seems that there was a second "critical decision maker" who also simply didn't bother actually interviewing me, but who would normally need to meet, the agency thought the whole thing was very strange and said it was not their normal way of working. A friend who went for, was offered, and accepted a different position also said that it wasn't like her experence of them either.

What's worrying me here is two things:
1. This company has a really good reputation as a great place to work
2. However this experience has left me feeling that they were totally unprofessional and disorganised, and its the second time I've dealt with them - I wasn't happy the previous time I dealt with them as they strung out the process into 4 interviews over 4 months and after the 3rd told me they were "very interested in having me" but after the 4th interview decided that my technical skills weren't good enough - which made me wonder why they took me past the first 2 "technical" interviews in the first place.

Whats also worrying is that they didn't seem to be interviewing me for a specific role - they seemed to be interviewing generally for a group of roles.

Has anybody gone through something like this?
Is it time to stop listening to the voices saying they are a "great workplace" and make up your mind based on your own experiences?

Kivun Sotilas

I haven't been in the same situation but just wanted to say that I would also feel very doubtful and frustrated if I was treated in the same way you have been. It doesn't say much for them if the key interviewers don't even bother showing up.

Tom Dunne

The question is - how badly do you want the job?

Personally, I would run a mile, but it's down to you and your situation.

slave1

from what I can read, your possible colleagues ( functional as you describe it ) made the interview and sound okay, this would be the deciding matter for me as you will be working with these folk day in day out, HR was a shambles, what a surprise, nothing new there from companies I work for, go for the second interview and if offered put in good salary figure, if you get it great, if not, well sin e

JP Mulvano

Hmmm sounds very familair to an expirience I had when interviewing for a job once.

How bad do you want the job, simple as that? Otherwise call them out on it and say this is ridiculous sort out our interview process. If they're anyway decent I'm sure they'd wouldn't mind as long as you put it tactfully.

humanji

That sounds just like my interview for my current job. I was 10 minutes early, but ended up waiting 30 minutes for the interview (the HR manager had decided to have an extended lunch). Then when I got into the interview, one of the directors was meant to be there, but I was told he had a golf game! The other two guys (the HR manager and another director) couldn't actually tell me anything about the job at all. They kept hinting at things, but admitted that they hadn't planned things out very well. They then told me that they'll call me for another interview at a later date.
When I told the guy at the agency who put me forward for the job, he actually rang them and gave out to them, and told them that they interviewed me once and there was no need to have a second one. I almost shat myself when I heard, thinking he just lost me my job, but needless to say I got the role, and I love my job.
So, basically, the interview doesn't always relate to the work place. Unexpected things can keep interviewers away, and HR people generally know nothing about the job they are offering
Don't count on getting your position, but don't write it off completely.

shoegirl

I phoned the agency who oranised the interview and told them exactly what happened. As it happened I thought just one critical decision maker had simply gone home at 5 rather than bother interviewing me - in fact two guys had both decided not to bother - what the hell was going on?

What I am guessing is that the problem is HR - perhaps these guys didn't even know they were supposed to be interviewing a candidate? After all, if you were senior tech support manager and you knew a candidate was coming in, wouldn't you take the trouble to talk to them? Unless it was one of those job so ****ty that half the time the interview process is a joke. But this is a company that pays about 33% above the going rate....

Waiting anyway for feedback from the agency to see what happens next. As it happens I have a job offer for a fairly good job in Dublin, but was just trying to see could i get anything in Cork in the same kind of lines. Its not looking promising and time is running out fast so its not the end of the world, but looks like i'll be signing that dublin contract tomorrow.

Stark

I wouldn't let HR be the reason that you don't take the job. It sounds like HR were absolute dicks to you but that would be my consistent with my views of HR departments in general. I've found HR in my company to also be disrespectful and any dealings I've had with them have been like pulling teeth. However I only have to deal with them a few times a year and I enjoy working for the company itself.

It sounds like time is running out for you however, so I guess you've no choice but to sign the Dublin contract.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Write them a PFO letter telling them they were unsuccessful.

humanji

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Write them a PFO letter telling them they were unsuccessful.

LMAO

tHE vAGGABOND

They could be a very very busy company. I have had to move/cance/get a stand in for interviews loads of times. Sometimes things happen in a company that are more important than an interview!

Im guessing you were interviewed by 3/4/5 people - you should have an idea about the company from them. You should base any decision you make on your experiences with them.

The question is for you. Do you want to work in a busy and potentially successful environment, or work in a civil service style 'sit on your arse all day' type company :rolleyes:

On a side note, 30 or 40 interviews over 6 years seems quite a lot? How come so many?

shoegirl

tHE vAGGABOND wrote:

They could be a very very busy company. I have had to move/cance/get a stand in for interviews loads of times. Sometimes things happen in a company that are more important than an interview!

Im guessing you were interviewed by 3/4/5 people - you should have an idea about the company from them. You should base any decision you make on your experiences with them.

The question is for you. Do you want to work in a busy and potentially successful environment, or work in a civil service style 'sit on your arse all day' type company :rolleyes:

On a side note, 30 or 40 interviews over 6 years seems quite a lot? How come so many?

Because I was laid off from a previous job about 6.5 years ago, and despite all the propoganda about there being jobs enough for everyone, it took me 3 months, about 240 applications and about 20 interviews to get a job in IT support.

About a year later I was briefly unemployed in London and it took me about the same length of time, but about 10 interviews to get a job.

I came back to Ireland about 8 months later and got the first job I interviewed for and took it. About 3 years into this company I figured out that there wasn't much of a future for it, so interviewed for about 5 other jobs (which ran into about 7 interviews) before I got the one I'm leaving now.

As it happens my dept is to close in December so I'd have had to go through this again anyway. The celtic tiger isn't all roses and benchmarking for everybody you know.

As for the comment on fast paced environments - I've worked in a few of them, but I don't ever remember anywhere where the key decision makers didn't make it a priority to see candidates on the day they were asked to interview - and on the very rare occasion when they couldn't make it they foresaw this in advance and either got somebody trustworthy to stand in or phoned ahead and cancelled.

As it happens the agency and company didn't come back to me, I don't think this is a good sign for how they do business so accepting my original offer and leaving them be.

kittenkiller

I'm working in the HR department for a huge multinational company at the moment & at our recent interviews the main precedent was to have everything planned and executed with the upmost professionalism.
The department hiring and HR had representatives present and if either couldn't make it, someone equally suitable was draughted in.

The company the OP interviewed for showed absolutely no respect or courtacy for the candidates.
For most people an interivew is nerve wracking enough without all that bull getting in the way of things.
Even if someone couldn't make it, they should've dealt with it in a more professional manner!

shoegirl

kittenkiller wrote:

and HR had representatives present and if either couldn't make it, someone equally suitable was draughted in.

The company the OP interviewed for showed absolutely no respect or courtacy for the candidates.
For most people an interivew is nerve wracking enough without all that bull getting in the way of things.
Even if someone couldn't make it, they should've dealt with it in a more professional manner!

Precisely, even in places I worked that treated their staff like s**te, at least managers had the courtesy to attend or get an appropriate substitute for the interview.

They still haven't even come back to me with feedback (after telling me they'd feedback on Wednesday and knowing I had another offer), so I've accepted a job in Dublin with a company quite simply because they have been very professional and extremely courteous - in the letter for my contract they even put in writing who to ask for on my first day and who my manager will be - which is something a lot of companies leave out.