I feel absolutely appalled by how a phone screen was handled by the recruiter at BMS. This internal company recruiter was from Tampa, FL. She exhibited zero professionalism, was inhuman, rude, discriminatory and impolite. The position I was being considered for is usually handled by Executive Search firms in the Pharma industry. She ghosted me mid-scheduling for this senior position and confirmed the interview only 10mins prior to the proposed time. Upon just greeting me with a quick hello, she jumped right in to express her concerns with regards to the length of my experience. My point is that there are more than 5 ways to pose the same questions with respect and humanity rather than turning it into an accusatory interrogation. I even offered to send my resume with exact timelines post the screen but she continued to accuse and interrogate. I explained that there was a 6 month gap due to 3 deaths of near and dear ones in my family. However, I was made to feel that this was not a good enough reason and in fact it was a gaping hole that I should have been able to control. Lucky that life had perhaps hadn't hit her hard ever but she could use some compassion in her approach. I firmly believe that HR is reflective of company culture and if this is what BMS represents, I am simply not interested! She seemed absolutely comfortable in ridiculing me throughout the phone call, perhaps in knowing that the call was not being recorded and she could get away with it easily. The whole interview had such negative energy that even way past the scheduled time for the interview all that was achieved was a month-by-month dissection (with surgical precision) of my total experience, when it was all provided at the time of application using their archaic ATS. She refused to provide a salary range by calling it 'proprietary information' but wanted to know where I intended to do my salary research from for negotiation purposes. She even told me how I should not use websites such as Glassdoor as it is filled with misinformation. At some point earlier in the interview, I happened to mention that I was originally from a different country even though I have spend about 20 years in the US. Then she added that the position would require a writing sample. I am truly shocked that for such a senior level position with multiple advanced degrees, a writing sample step would be included on the whim. This was indeed discriminatory. I wasn't applying for a writing job. She even extrapolated her interpretations to some of my responses to show me in a negative light. Post my phone screen, I found multiple interview experiences for the same position over the past two years, which tells me something is internally very off with the particular business unit. These negative interview experiences were mostly related to actual on-site interviews. I am glad that during the call itself, I had decided to not continue with the process and save myself from further on-site humiliation. To this recruiter, I was just one phone call that she could check off from her calling list and she may even leave some damaging back-end feedback on my application to misuse her position as an internal BMS recruiter. However, to me this opportunity that I had persevered for throughout my career. All this makes me think that HRs are truly unnecessary for an organization. They tend to reject candidates for personal reasons. I am sure that it would take her an entire lifetime to obtain 10% of the qualification and experience that I have worked so hard to earn in my career. This phone screen has left a bad taste in my mouth and I hope that she chooses to become a better human being, at least.