I interviewed for a company out of North East Ohio, Natural Essentials Inc, and had an unprofessional and odd experience with them. Allow me to explain and warn others.
I applied for a process validation engineer role. Posted range on indeed was $65,000 – $80,000. I went on site for a single interview. During this interview the director of quality and regulatory affairs, who was the hiring manager, told me what was going on. He mentioned the company had very little process validation paperwork they could use to recreate processes reliably and that there was essentially no process in place at all for validations. They had some paperwork and it was not trustworthy. So he needed someone to champion a huge project and build a validation protocol and library for this medium sized company. I had the background (seven years experience) and figured it would be a good project to work on to put on my resume. The hiring manager also talks a bit of smack about the business owner and his sons. Not a great look there either.
Clearly this is a pink flag already. little to no manufacturing process validation? We discussed compensation in the interview and I told him my bottom line was $80,000 per year. Average salary for this type of role in the area is about $82,000. I have the experience and skills to comfortably expect that. So that was very clear in the interview. I guaranteed excellent work for that price and he'd get his value's worth. This was on a Tuesday.
Come Thursday, I have an offer on the table. A shitty one. $65,000 per year, no 401k until a year in, 3 weeks combined PTO/sick/vacation. I countered the next day asking for the $80k I had asked for during the interview. I waited until today around noon to call and ask for an update. The HR rep told me the hiring manager had decided Thursday he was sticking to the $65k. I informed her I would not accept that and that they should have called to let me know instead of ignoring me.
So I have a single interview, huge workload in front of me and likely not meeting compliance standards, insultingly low pay, and they will ignore you. I shot off an email to the hiring manager and called him out for being unprofessional and not respecting the value of his candidates. CALL THESE COMPANIES OUT! They treat us like shit and then we are so often told not to put them on blast because it'll burn bridges or make us look undesirable. These companies look undesirable and do not run without us, the working class. Stand up for yourselves, your worth, your time, and call these companies out for what they are.