Thursday, October 07, 2010

Hostile Job Interviews

We'll be getting back to the movie stuff very shortly. I know, I know, I've been detoured far too long. This is my last off-topic post but hey, sometimes you gotta get stuff off your chest, right?

So, I recently interviewed with a company for a marketing job and, through the course of this process, came to conclude this company had serious issues. The interview process with, oh lets call them AWS Truepower (oops, that is their name!) is best described as torturous. It's easily the worst interview process I have ever been through. Should you have an opportunity to interview with this company I highly recommend slamming your face in a car door repeatedly instead--it will hurt far less, I promise you.

The process began with a routine phone interview. A week or so later that was followed by another one with a few repeat questions, not a big deal but a bit annoying. And then came the email requesting a face-to-face. I should have said no, there were some red flags, but I didn't. In this economy you just can't. In normal economic conditions I would have declined.

And so, after the email requesting a face-to-face interview, came another with some homework assignments. They wanted professional writing samples, pretty normal, so I provided nearly a dozen. Next they wanted a written critique of their website. Slightly time consuming, but again I complied. And next up they wanted some bullet point thought on new product launch procedures which I again provided.

So then came the day. Put on a suit, print out some spare resumes and wonder what they could possibly have left to ask me.

I'm escorted to a large conference room and 3, yes 3, people file in. All of them were pretty pleasant and for the most part I enjoyed speaking with them. I did find it slightly bizarre that I had to field some questions about international marketing because I have 0 experience with that and nowhere in my resume would you be led to believe that I did. Next their web guy said he had some questions but in reality he just entered into a soliloquy about the company and their future products. If there was a question in there I didn't hear it. Finally he asked something about my website critique and as I answered him he nodded enthusiastically and the 3 interviewers exchanged knowing looks, as if they already knew of these issues and I was confirming them. After this round I felt pretty good, enjoyed the people and was confident it went well. It was more than an hour so I was getting a bit worn as interviews are inherently stressful, let alone when they go on and on. So they told me who I would be talking to at the next interview, which I assumed meant I had passed to the next round and would be told when to return.

Nope. Instead I was told to wait and more people shuffled in. This is where the real problems begin. One woman that came in had an obvious attitude and was miserable at first and quickly devolved into outright hostile. Easily one of the meanest and most miserable people I have ever encountered and certainly not anyone you would want to work for. She picked through my resume and all but called me a liar more than once. For example:

She asked me about a listing on my resume that says I offered some media relations training. Well, the truth is I had worked for a number of small companies and I have offered advice relating to television and radio interviews. It was real basic stuff, not exactly big leagues, but still, my bosses were happy I did it and their interviews went well. Just because I wasn't a seasoned media relations trainer or because I didn't counsel, for example, the CEO of Pepsi or anything, does that mean I should omit it from my resume? When asked for clarification I was honest in what I did and didn't try to misrepresent it but she was like a mean dog with a bone, at one point rolling her eyes. I internally tried to not be defensive but I was getting rattled and, to an extent, angry.

Next she said it was "Interesting" that I claimed to have experience with SEO work but my current companies website was not showing up in Google. Well, it would have been an interesting and easily answered questions without her hostility and accusatory stance. The truth? Our company had turned off their old website and turned on a new one the very day she was looking for it. None of the new pages had even been indexed yet, obviously. When I tried to explain this she just made a face and sort of looked at the ceiling. Everything in me wanted to walk out but I stayed.

She then began slamming the design of the website in what would easily become the most unprofessional and hostile interview I have ever seen. Just tearing it apart. Now, I was unsure what design she was seeing and relatively certain she must have viewed a cached page in Google just hours after the new site went live. She asked me if I was responsible for the design. Now, 2 things:

1. How can you unprofessionally tear apart a design and imply that anyone who approved it must be brain dead and then ask the interviewee if he did it? Is there a good answer? And was that really necessary?

2. I said I wasn't responsible. She said that as Marketing Director I should have approval of a design. I countered that it was started before I got there. The problem is I don't know if what I was saying was true or not because I have no clue which version of the site she saw and because of her obtuse attitude I am still not certain. The new design I approved and I liked, so screw her if that's what she saw.

Next she again said it was interesting that I was not listed on the staff page. I explained my boss had an issue he wanted to address using the new site and we went live sort of in a hurry and some pages weren't quite complete. She said there was an Administrative Assistant listed but not me. She said it twice, maybe three times. No matter how many times I explained it she wasnt having it. I dont see what the big fucking deal was with that but she didn't want to let it go.

And the final blow? In the previous interviews the rest of the marketing team talked about social media, my experience with it, their enthusiastic acceptance of it, and the need for them to be better with it.

This dragon-lady asked me a question, phrased in a way that attempted to force me to agree with her as she held all the power in the room, by saying beginning the question with "Don't you think..." and then she went on to say Twitter could cheapen a brand and shouldnt be on the website. Since I didn't agree, and neither does Lexus, Toyota, Chevy, Ford, Pepsi and a host of other brands with more recognition than hers will EVER have, I just went ahead and disagreed with her. As did, it would seem, nearly everyone else in the company that I had previously spoken with.

At the end of the day this thing went on for more than 2 hours. This mean woman rattled me, had me stammering and a little confused by the end of it. Having endured all the other interviews and feeling good about them, I knew the second this final round ended I had no chance. Which was for the best because I know there is no universe in which dragon-lady and I could coexist.

They said it would take a week but it came as no surprise to me when an email arrived two days later saying thanks but no thanks. I actually breathed a pretty huge sigh of relief. I mean literally, an audible PHEW escaped me because I wanted nothing to do with this company and was saved from a night of guilt and soul searching over possibly turning it down.

I still look back on that whole process with disbelief. She all but called me a liar several times, refused to take reasonable explanations when I was confronted by inane accusations and would not accept the fact Google did not index a new website in a matter of hours. Of course she was incredulous when I told her what happened and behaved as if it was out of the realm of possibility that a new site was switched on the day she was looking for it. I swear to God the next time I am confronted by such an interviewer, if I am unfortunate enough to have it happen again, I'll save some dignity and just walk out. I have nothing but pity for those people that have to endure this person daily. Yes I know her name and title, no I am never going to reveal it publicly so dont ask.

Tomorrow back to nothing but movies with no more detours!

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