Job interviewers - don't insult my credentials, experience or intelligence.

[Sannum]

I was employed as a Staffing/HR Generalist and Office Manager at a mid-size legal services firm until I was laid off from the company from hell. (think "Dunder Mifflin" with nasty alcoholics). I have years of experience in Office Administration and HR. By the looks of the ad posted, this looked like a great opportunity. HR Generalist and Office Manager for a start-up and successful growing company. No name, but that is typical. I sent my resume right in - on paper it would be perfect.

Anyway, I am currently interviewing. Last week I got a call from a cell phone and a woman who said that "your background looks great! Let's meet tomorrow at 10:30". Fine. I got dressed the next morning and headed over to the interview. The first sign of impending doom? The office was in a storefront. Not a dealbreaker, but strange to me. There was no signage to be found, so I walked in at 10:25 on the nose as any applicant should arrive early, but not too early. I walked in to people on their laptops and cell phones clicking away, and asked if this was the place. "Oh my god, you are so early!" I heard coming from someone in the back. This was one of the partners of this "business". She said that they were very busy and did not have time for me. I apologized, as I am a bit by the book on the 5 minutes early rule in interviewing as I have hired many people before. Anyway, she leads me to this gigantic card table with 3 people sitting around it (this is the only surface in the "office", clattering away on various mobile devices. They don't have my resume. I pull out 4 copies and hand it to them, giving a verbal thumbnail of my experience and background. Still thinking that they actually want someone with experience - hell, this office needs some organization, I inquire about the company as they did not have a website or any other information online. They give me a rundown, it sounds like an interesting concept, yada yada yada. My background is working with small, growing companies and I understand that sometimes there are growing pains before success happens. They don't ask any questions, but they are now clattering away on facebook, probably writing on each others wall and asking who this person is asking about staffing goals that the company currently has...it was a big part of their ad that they wanted someone with staffing experience to hire people for various roles in the company. They then proceed to bitch about how difficult it is to hire people and what a pain in the ass interviewing people is and how I was wasting their time. I say that I understand how they feel that way, that is why staffing agencies are able to make a profit - people are busy running a business. I have years of experience in finding the right people. I also suggest the idea an applicant management system that can be a huge help in organizing the many resumes that come in. They look at me with disdain and complete disinterest - I usually do well in interviews, im friendly and I know what I am talking about. I ask them what else they wanted me to tell them about my experience.

At this time, I had never been in such a weird position. These people don't know what their ad said...they don't know who they want to hire. They now say that HR will be a tiny part of the job. The main part of the job will actually be making cold calls and customer service for this unseen "business". It goes on and on. The questions and comments were so strange, and it included this gem at the very end. "your feet are so small". Uhhh...ok. Someone left to feed the meter, and another person answers her cell phone to yell at someone I assumed to be an ex-husband. Totally bizarre. DURING THE INTERVIEW!!! Just out of curuosity, I ask two of the people clattering away what their positions in the company are - "We don't really know yet, but when we get an office we will like, figure it out". How very interesting.

I have interviewed people for years for various positions from legal, to technical to administrative. These people did not know what the hell they were doing or talking about. The interview ended soon, thank god and I left thinking what the hell just happened! To all of the people with small businesses, PLEASE...Google questions to ask applicants. Asking questions really helps you get answers. I have often had to pretend to be interested in some bizarre situations with applicants. Know who you want to hire before you give them a call. Yes, I am looking for a job. I am extremely experienc,ed and even intelligent so don't insult me with these bullshit situations. I would be an asset to any fucking company because I know what I am doing - I don't play games and I am not your typical HR drone.

I should have just walked right by after i saw the "office" they had. I walked a few blocks to Peet's after the weirdness and grabbed a Vanilla Latte and all was well again.

Sorry for the rant - it was just an insulting experience. I really wanted to say "fuck you" as I walked out.

[Orrex]

1. But did you get the job?

What a fucked up situation. I've had interviews with disorganized companies, but nothing like the horror story you've described.

If it's any consolation to you, they're certainly either a front for some less-than-legitimate business, or they're a legitimate business that'll go belly-up within the year.


Best of luck to you--keep at it!

[Sannum]

3. No - I even broke my rule of always sending a thank you note.

Thats what I thought - a total front or failure.

[Orrex]

4. Well, be sure to update your resume

Under "special qualifications" you should definitely mention your small feet.

[ThomCat]

2. Wow. That does not sound like a company that will stay in business

very long.

I was a business management consultant before disability took me out of the workforce, and I've had some really warped and weird clients over the years. But if I had a client anything like what you describe I would not place bets on how long they would survive. :(

Seriously, they want someone to do mostly cold calling and customer service, and then to do HR on the side?
:wtf:


I hope you have a serious interview with a serious company soon. I hope you find a really nice job with a company you respect and coworkers you will like. :)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. dude

you should so totally go back and hang around and p/u a paycheck.

Like, really how hard can it be?

:D

[bluedigger]

6. You should pull a Kramer on them.

They don't know what the fuck they are doing, so just show up and take 'em over. They won't even know they didn't hire you. Then get hold of their payroll, cut yourself a fat check as the office manager, bad-a-boom, bad-a-bing!:rofl:

[old mark]

7. You are fortunate. I got a job with an organization in very similar circumstances,

one of the worst experiences of my working life. It never got an better, finally got a lot worse as the CEO was indicted for stealing funds and equipment, executives ran like kitchen roaches, blame was cast everywhere, many local political reps were sullied amidst alarums and shrieking, and the whole thing sank like the fucking Titanic.
Fortunately by that time I had departed.

mark

[monmouth]

8. Had a similar experience. Turned out to be a "boiler room"....n/t

[Moondog]

9. What a grotesque waste of your time!