tl;dr: I apply for a position with a former mentor; their consultant hiring manager jerks me around for over two weeks breadcrumbing an interview, says the salary isn't negotiable even though the public job posting says it is negotiable, asks for two cover letters, and writes horribly worded/redundant non-profit-speak emails only to reject me after moving the goal posts for experience level.
So I've been working in the finance and operations dept of a large law firm for over a year now. I have been casually looking for other jobs as I am somewhat bored. Recently, I saw a former mentor posting a position for their non-profit on LinkedIn that is within my major field of study. I was super excited because the entry level research opportunity had a better salary than most research positions (i.e. around 50k with benefits instead of like 35k). I applied right away–highlighting that I previously interned with the job poster in college.
I didn't hear anything for over a week. Finally, I followed up with the hiring manager (who is a consultant) about my application to make sure they even received it since it was just by email and not an application portal. The consultant replied almost immediately, told me the job poster remembered me well, and that I would be contacted about an interview that week as I was in the queue. I was ecstatic to be remembered and considered for the role. I thought finally I can work in a field that makes somewhat of a difference instead of just making money for big corporations.
A couple days later I received an email from the consultant asking if I had even read the job description based on my cover letter. I was a little confused, but I clarified that yes I had read the job description and understood what the firm was working on. I told them my questions about the firm in my cover letter were about why the firm was hiring new talent and what would that talent be working on. They had interpreted my questions as not having read all of their website regarding current projects instead of being about the position they were hiring for.
They also told me they had received applications for the entry level research role from candidates with masters degrees and whether I still wanted to apply to it. They recommended I apply for another position they were hiring for that was a support role that included some management work. I didn't really understand how my experience better aligned with this position, but I told them if they thought I would be a better fit then to submit my resume for the role.
I also submitted some questions about the role as the job description was vague. The compensation for this support role was also much lower, but in the description it said it was negotiable. I told them if they wanted me for this role we would have to negotiate otherwise I would be taking a significant pay cut from my current salary.
I got an email back from the consultant wherein she failed to answer any of my questions, said the salary wasn't actually negotiable, and asked me to submit another cover letter for that second support position as soon as possible since the application was due a week ago and they're in the interviewing phase. I was dumbfounded. Were they trying to talk me out of both roles and to just not apply?
Also can I just say– you would think non-profit employees/consultants were paid by the word. These were some of the most jargon-y, redundant and longwinded emails I had ever received. I work for attorneys so I'm used to like one sentence emails if they even bother to construct a sentence.
Anyway, my experience matched with everything about both roles, but I just didn't have a masters degree which was marked as 'preferred' but not required. Moreover, I know the job poster-my mentor-knew I could work really hard and learn things on the job. I was like… 'okay, fine I can write something quick about how I fit this role for my mentor.' Re the negotiable non-negotiable salary, I figured if they wanted me enough they would find the money for the role. I sent them another cover letter.
Two more days pass and I receive the following response: “After further review we have decided that this role requires a professional background that includes 2+years experience with designing research projects. Therefore we will not be moving you forward to interview for the position.” I screamed after reading that email. Not only did they move the goal posts on the required experience, they wasted so much of my time.
I nearly threw my computer across the room for all the wasted time, bread-crumbing an interview, and how unprofessional this hiring manger treated me. I have been treated better by cold-call LinkedIn recruiters. Moreover, I was shocked that my mentor was essentially cosigning this unprofessional behavior. All the emails from the consultant made it seem like my mentor was aware of how the consultant was conducting this search.
Honestly, I feel like I dodged a bullet due to all those red flags, but I'm just super disappointed to be treated this way by a mentor and for all my wasted time (3-4 hours which I know is small compared to some searches on this sub). It made me think of how my college advisor would always tell us when applying for internships with non-profits that “The only thing worse than being exploited by a capitalist is not being exploited by a capitalist.” And that quote feels true. At least I know I'm being exploited when I work for a corporation instead of this guilting/shaming feeling that non-profits use to extract more labor from their employees.. and, I guess, prospective employees. Anyway, I don't think I'll ever work for a non-profit because I'm just not willing to deal with this bullshit.