Last week I had one of the most anti-climactic, bizarre interviews of my professional career. I felt like it was extremely unprofessional and rude, but I'm also wondering if maybe I'm just being salty and this is just how interviews are done now in this remote-leaning climate?
So, the interview was for a tech company that I actually have my foot in the door already. I know several people who work there, including someone who's been there a long time. The position wasn't a safe bet; I'm definitely qualified for it but I'm not hot-shot with decades of experience. I have the talent and decent experience, but not rockstar levels. I predicted it would come down to if they are leaning towards culture fit over experience, or experience over culture fit. So 50/50 shot for me. Regardless, I went in with a lot of energy and positivity, and put on a collared button up and styled my hair, despite it being over Zoom.
So the interview; the recruiter was wearing an oversized/comfortable fit t-shirt of some kind, and her hair was up in a messy bun. She literally looked like she was in the middle of cleaning her house. But whatevs, I tried to not overthink that. But then she proceeded to look at her 2nd monitor about 80% of the entire interview, typing and clicking on things. She would ask a question, then look away the entire time. I understand the need to take notes sometimes, but it just felt like she wasn't making any effort to connect and engage with me, or give me her full attention. I felt like I was answering questions to someone reading off a script, who already knew what the outcome was gonna be. Like she was just going through the motions.
At the end she basically laid it out there that, “while you do have strong references and great work samples, being as this is position is brand new and the hire would be laying the foundation for the role going forward, we are leaning towards wanting someone with more hard experience.” That wasn't a problem because I totally predicted that could be the case. She said she enjoyed our talk(sure…) and that they'd be keeping me on file for a future role that was a better fit for me, as they expected to grow this dept a lot in the coming year.
I just felt like “Why interview me at all? you saw on paper that I wasn't who you wanted for this?”, you know? And it showed in her body language, attire, energy(or lack thereof), etc. I actually mentioned this poor experience to my friend who works there, and made it clear that I wasn't trying to be a dick about it and was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, and he said, “Nah, that ain't cool. This isnt how we want our company represented. She's kinda new, so I'll pass this on to her manager. I'm sorry it went down like that.” So that was good to hear. I did end up getting a survey a few days later, from the company asking for my anonymous feedback on the interview. I was very clear about my disappointment and why.
tldr; Had a zoom interview that I dressed up for but the recruiter couldn't be bothered, looked like she was cleaning her house. Barely paid attention to me, read off a script, had no energy or friendliness at all, and then explained I wouldn't move to the next stage based on reasons they had already decided before the interview. Just unprofessional and disappointing.