February 2 of this year I applied to a permanent position. It looked good. In April/May I interviewed multiple times with that office. First week of June I was made an informal offer, which I accepted.
But HR never contacted me with the required paperwork. I reached out, and they sent the WRONG offer nearly two weeks later. Then they offered me a job title, pay scale, and pay that was not what was advertised or suggested in the interview. I wrote back immediately (within 10 minutes of receiving the offer), asking if this was an error (again). They said no, that was it, but I could negotiate.
They were offering me less than I currently make AFTER taxes and deductions. So I negotiated. They agreed to consider it, and *five weeks* later I have yet to receive a new formal offer. I reached out to the department, they said they still want to hire me. I reached out to HR again this week to see if this had fallen through the cracks and they informed me, no, their review board process was just 'slow' because they only meet once a month and I would hear back. Oh, but even after the negotiation is finished, he explained, I should still expect a clearance and review process before I'm officially hired. This could take between 2-3 months more.
My entire year will have been wasted. This took applying to over a hundred positions to finally get an offer and the position still isn't finalized. This morning I woke up and cried. It's been nearly six months. How does anyone do this?