Arc'teryx's Career page states "You'll be supported along the way by a member of our recruiting team, keeping you updated, always, on next steps and timelines, providing feedback, or making offers". This is far from the truth.
I initially applied in late October for a Commercialization Specialist role. Prior to my application, a friend informed me that her friend had an experience with them and after two interviews and several months of delay her opinion was that they will "lead you on". Within maybe a week or two of my application I received an email requesting to set-up a time for a first interview. I quickly responded and awaited that first session. It was a telephone interview performed by an internal recruiter based in Vancouver. The recruiter was polite, friendly, and the conversation was very easy-going. I was informed that I would hear back in a week since the company had to fill the position fast. Stoked, I sent a quick thank you note after the interview and crossed my fingers for some positive feedback. After a week passed without any response I sent a follow-up email. No reply. Another week passed and I sent another follow-up. A few days later I heard back and it was a request for another phone call to ask me some additional questions. Happily I agreed to first thing the next morning. That next phone call was again very friendly and an easy-going conversation. But, the recruiter believed that because I had a significant amount of management experience in the international sourcing world that I should apply to a position that would be posted soon and that I should let her know when I see it posted online so she could mention to the responsible recruiter that she had already spoken to me. I thought great why not and proceeded as advised.
In the first week of January a related position (Raw Materials Sourcing Manager) popped up on the careers page. So, I applied and I also sent an email as instructed to the previous recruiter about it. I never heard anything back from her though. But that's ok, within a week I received an email from a different recruiter about the new position and requesting a video interview. Fantastic I felt and so I picked the earliest possible slot about two weeks away. The interview date came and the time approached. By that morning I actually had not received any further information, no video meeting link, no confirmation, no nothing. The time hit 9am, the scheduled time for the call, and still I had nothing. A bit shocked as I felt it would have been more professional to at least provide a day's notice with the meeting link to act as a confirmation. I looked to the bright side and I continued to wait patiently. Low and behold, a link appeared three minutes late. Well not to worry as perhaps these recruiters are super busy ;-) The video call went like the previous telephone interview. Easy-going, friendly, etc. The questions were a bit more challenging this time round. However, following the call I was informed that I would hear soon since again the position needed to be filled quickly. I sent a thank you note again as I thought it would be polite. There was no reply. Three weeks passed and no information. The job was still listed and so I sent a follow-up. No reply. By Feb 22, it had been a month without any feedback and so I sent a second follow-up. Again, no reply. March 4 rolled on and the position was still posted online and so I sent a third follow-up. Finally, I heard back that day and was informed that the position was still open and candidates were still being reviewed. I was told that I would be contacted once a decision was made. I felt like it seemed like an awfully long time for anyone to be waiting around, but I continued to keep my fingers crossed.
Well, today is April 20 and about a week ago that position was removed from their website. I never heard back from the recruiter as she promised on March 4 and certainly I wasn't "...supported along the way by a member of [the] recruiting team, keeping [me] updated, always, on next steps and timelines, providing feedback".
Perhaps I come from a different time, but I believe in professionalism and etiquette. After all, we are still representing our company even during the recruitment process. From my management experience, when I give someone an interview, I believe I should let them know the outcome regardless if moving forward or not. It is common courtesy especially if I make claims that my company will be providing updates along the way. It is quite arrogant to think anyone would wait around months for a position when you do not even fulfill the claims you make about your hiring process. I feel it is important for me to share my story so that others don't get led on by this company's claims and practices. If they don't reply to your emails even if they say you will hear from them, don't bet on it. Continue your search elsewhere and hopefully they will learn from this review and make improvements.
