Here's the story:
Monday, 6:30pm - A call from THE JOB. Can you come in for an interview TOMORROW or at the butt crack of dawn on Wednesday?
TSN: Um, hello! I applied for your job NINE weeks ago. [I said this in my head of course.] "Sure I'll come in on Wednesday at 8am."
Wednesday, 8:30am- [Middle of the Interview] Insert any ridiculously hard substantive question that you can think of for which I have absolutely NO ANSWER. Thinking I have bombed the interview, which I have to admit I almost never do (I think pretty well on my feet), I treat myself to a Starbucks. I'm also a little anoyed because I felt like I was getting a lot of substantive questions when I kept getting assured that I didn't need to have background knowledge in this particular subject area. Um...they lied.
Thursday, 6:35pm - Email from THE JOB. Please send your references. Whoa! Really? Either I'm a great bullshit artist (Thank you, expensive law degree!), or you all are a little crazy. In a few days, I will learn that it is the latter.
Friday, all day - Email THE JOB that I will send a list of references ASAP. Scramble to get references together. I didn't think I'd need them at this point, which was a bad move on my part. Have your references ready or at least have THOUGHT about them before you need them. I learned this lesson, and I am not afraid to admit it!
Monday, 9am - Send references.
Monday 11:55am - I get an email from THE JOB that essentially said this:
"Thirty-Something Nothing,
Thanks for your references. We've actually offered the job to someone else, and they have accepted. Would you like us to pass on your resume to another group here which does work that you are not interested in? Thanks again."
Serious paraphrase here, but you get the picture.
Okay, so:
1) I think I didn't really want the job anyway; and
2) WHAT THE HECK?!! I don't even know where to begin.
If you were willing and able to make a decision WITHOUT speaking to my references, then why bother to ask me for them? I never expressed that I DID NOT want the job. If you were in such a rush to fill the position, and I wasn't providing information in a timely manner, TELL ME!
By my timeline, the person to whom they offered the job, either accepted on the spot or got the offer on Friday and accepted Monday morning. I would not have accepted on the spot so......
Anyway, when I got that e-mail all I could do was laugh. I mean what else was I supposed to do? In my own sick twisted little Thirty-Something Nothing way, I'm kinda GLAD I did not have to mull over whether or not to accept this job. It's a little bit far away from many of the things I'm thinking about doing next in terms of topic area (not job function though), so I am not sure I would have wanted to go in that direction. Plus, if they handled the hiring process like this, imagine what the actual job would be like. While it would be nice to say that I have a job right now, I may just have dodged a bullet. :) PHEW!!
Has anyone had any crazy situations come up during thea hiring process for a job? Did it leave you slapping or scratching your head? I'd love to hear about them!
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6 comments:
Hang in there — what happened to you is certainly out of the norm and I too, would be thinking "Wtf?!!" if it happened to me.
As for your question at the end, I remember one crazy interview where the hiring manager asked me all these weird "what would you do if..." questions (that had nothing to do with the job) and even gave me role-playing tasks. And whenever something wasn't satisfactory, he would literally scream, "That's not good enough!" The funny thing is, he gave me a $10 Starbucks gift card at the end of the interview for being a good sport. They actually called me for a second interview, but I declined.
Other than that, can you believe that I'm still getting rejection letters for positions I'd applied for 9 months ago?
Ugh, that's so frustrating. But I'm with you: I'm going in tomorrow for an interview for a job I applied to three months ago and didn't hear anything from until last week. Grr.
Jeremy didn't get a job because they said he was to ambitious. They wanted him to stay in the same position for 5 years. Seriously? Job peeps are crazy. On the bright side, he moved on to bigger and better things. I know the same is coming to you.
Thanks, everyone! This makes feel better!
@geek in heels - That interview sounds AWFUL!! Maybe I should count my blessings.
What the hell?
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