This was the most unstructured interview process I’ve ever dealt with. I wasn’t offered a position, but if I were, I would’ve declined in a heartbeat. I applied for an entry level A/V tech position for a company that hosts online court hearings. The pay was 18/hr with no health insurance.
Firstly, I was contacted by a recruiter to schedule an interview. I was then interviewed by an individual I didn’t originally speak with and the recruiter that contacted me sat in on the interview never turned on her camera or introduced herself simply joined the call and muted. The interview with this individual was the only positive note I had during the interview process.
Next, I got a text that same night saying I need to urgently set up a follow-up “tech interview”. Because the hiring manager would be leaving the following day and they wanted to get it in before they went out of town. However, within an hour of setting it up, they canceled the interview saying: “both hiring managers need to be present for the interview” canceled the interview, and then went radio silent for a week.
The next week they reached back out to reschedule The “tech interview” was then scheduled for 1 PM EST but no zoom call was set up. (looking back maybe this was part of the interview to see if I can pay attention to detail?) I reached out to the recruiter I was in contact with and explained to please set up a zoom call. The recruiter then called me 30 minutes before the interview and said: “The hiring managers have set up a new approach on interviews and I should expect the unexpected and anything goes in this interview” Like what is this the Hunger Games? I thought this was an entry-level position…
Nonetheless, I anxiously joined at 12:50 PM EST and waited. 1:05 PM EST and my recruiter joins and says she’ll be sitting in on the interview but will not be partaking (again no camera on and instantly mutes her mic but at least she said a few words this time).
Then at 1:15 PM EST (15min late mind you so already frustrating) Both hiring managers joined the call and It was like a skit straight out of the office. One had a filter on which was a shark and her camera was upside down and the other had her camera off with a greenscreen background. They proceeded to act saying “Oh whatever will we do I wish someone with a tech background could help us with our camera issues” Maybe you can help B_Wreck2740?
I then had to help these “actresses” fix their camera issues and they acted like disgruntled adults while I was attempting to walk them through it. (They seemed to be way more focused on acting perfectly rather than focusing on the interview itself). The worst part about this is they didn’t join and introduce themselves and tell you they are going to act out a scenario we may run into on the job, they instantly join and get way into the role like “oh my kid must’ve hopped on my account again. DARN IT! I need to tell him to stop messing with my settings”
Anyway, After exhausting my options, I couldn’t get the camera which was completely off to turn on. That interviewer hops out of character and says to expect the unexpected and removed a camera cover off her camera lens and said it was her “wildcard” answer.
They then proceeded to ask me generic customer service questions all while hardly looking at me, checking their phones, looking at their other monitor, and rushing through questions. It seemed almost every other answer one of the hiring managers kept saying I need to get to another meeting soon but let’s do one more thing, so it felt disingenuous.
Finally, they wanted to see how my chat communication skills were. They had me write a message as if I were communicating with a team and they would go back and forth with me. After sending a chat message the main interviewer said “great job, I’ve got to run to my next meeting, but interviewer two. I know you haven’t previously done this portion of the interview process would you like to do some practice back and forth with B_Wreck2740?” As if I’m a lab rat for them to practice on. But luckily, she declined.