Should I go for this job interview?

[Interrobang]

Back story:

I applied for a job last week, and I got a call to come for an interview. However, the posting grossly misinterpreted the job (it was supposed to be a tech writing position, this job the guy described sounds like it's 60% marketing, 10% sales (at trade shows -- ugh!), and 30% tech writing); it requires a lot of travel and I don't drive; plus it pays an entry-level starvation wage ($27-30K/a) for a job that (especially in Toronto where the cost of living is high) ought to pay up to twice that amount for the work it seems to involve. (Also, I'm not going to name names here, but reputationally, the guy who called me seems to be of the type who are incredible low-ballers who will try to get as much for-free out of you as possible, and who are always trying to work some kind of quasi-shady deal, and this looks like the same deal to me.)

The company makes high-tech security devices, which I'm not tremendously interested in, and going to this interview would require a 300 km trip by bus, subway, etc. I'm pretty sure this guy's just looking for someone to overwork and underpay (and when that person burns out, he'll just look for another sucker), so I'm very tempted to just call him and tell him I'm not interested after all.

Opinions?

[POed_Ex_Repub]

1. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot poll...

If they're misrepresenting it right off the bat, you can expect nothing but more of the same. Unless you're really desperate for the money (and I understand some of us are in this lousy job market), I'd hold out if I could.

[liberalhistorian]

2. Usually it's a good idea

to give job interviews a chance, because you just never know how it could turn out and your preconceptions might very well be wrong. Give it a shot, see what your instinct tells you during the interview, and if it's as you suspect, you can simply turn down an offer if you receive one. But you never know, it might not be what you're thinking. Plus, it gives you interview practice and you can never get enough of that.

[Interrobang]

9. Actually, I can't...

If I'm offered a job, I legally *have* to take it, since I'm on unemployment benefits. However, I can always write down that having "own transportation" was a requirement for the job, because it sort of is, and I don't have a driver's license, let alone a car.

I just don't know whether it's worth it to travel 300 km (since I don't really have the money for the trip) just to have the guy decide that he doesn't really want to hire me because I'm not interested in sales and I don't look like booth bunny material. Also, as I said, the job posting was blatantly wrong, he's not willing to negotiate up on salary (which I thought he might be), and I don't like sales. (That's why I'm a technical writer.)

I think I'm just going to tell him to get stuffed.

[kstewart33]

3. Sounds like you've already made up your mind

If you trust your instincts, cancel the interview.

[Droopy]

4. 27-30k is peanuts in Canada

I think you deserve better.

[RoeBear]

5. What is that in...

...'real' money?

[Interrobang]

8. It's about 1-1, if you're talking about home-currency transactions.

That is to say, if I'm spending a dollar here in Canada where I live, and you're spending a dollar in the US where you live (wherever that is), both of our dollars buy us roughly the same amount.

[necso]

6. I could go either way.

If I am in the right frame of mind sometimes I go just for the experience (or the laugh). Sometimes I shine it off (with or without calling), if I figure that I have no chance or the job is a real loser.

In the US these days it is not uncommon for employers to haul in tons of people and then give the job to someone they had in mind in the first place. This makes it seems like they are being thorough and some managers like the feeling of power it gives them. Besides the more candidates that there are, the less leverage any one of them has.

Just don't beat yourself up over it no matter what you decide.

Of course if you really need the job it is another story.

[dreissig]

7. It's a Swindle

If he told you it's a technical writing job and most of it is selling, the technical writing you will be doing will be sales letters and proposals. This is not what technical writing is, and the employer knows it. If I were you, I wouldn't work for a guy who lies even before you've taken the job.

[Nikia]

10. No

If it were closer, I might but since it requires a large investment of your time and probably money for travel, don't do it. Not being able to drive would probably disqualify you for that job anyway.