Cambia provided the worst overall interview experience I ever had and is a great lesson in disrespect to applicants.
The process started when I applied through a recruiter and did my phone interview through them. The opportunity then popped up with Cambia and they invited me onsite.
This initial interview with Cambia was a huge a waste of time. Before I even got the chance to speak with anyone and actually ask any questions about the job, I was sent in for 1 hour assessment where I had to research and write some accounting guidance. After this, I had a 1 hour interview with HR (who was 20 minutes late) that dove right into asking me all about my history. At about the 2 hour mark of my experience I finally get the chance to ask: "It seems that the job description is all encompassing for all of your accountants, which specific job am I interviewing for?" The answer I received was along the lines of: "I can't really say, there's a few openings right now and I'll let the managers decide which one best suits their needs." I just spent over two hours interviewing and writing an assessment for a job, and HR couldn't answer which job I was applying for? I felt Cambia was showing that they assumed I wanted to work for them rather than trying to convince that this was a good partnership as much as I was trying to convince them.
They call me in for a second interview. I came back in a week later, and the interviewer showed up over a half hour late. When he did finally arrive, I received no apology or recognition of the late arrival. He asked for a copy of my resume and took about 30 seconds to read through it making it apparent that he hadn't prepared. What followed were some watered down versions of the questions I received in the initial interview, except this one only lasted 15 minutes because the interviewer had to be somewhere. I had a few minutes to try and sneak some of my own questions in there, and again was told they were hiring for multiple positions in the accounting department and he couldn't tell me which one exactly they needed. I did receive a bit of clarity on which positions they were looking for, but he didn't seem at all concerned about which one I was most interested in.
Cambia called me back for a third interview. At this point, I was 99% sure that even with an offer I would not work for them. I decided to take the interview because when you're unemployed you have the time to see if there may be something to that 1% and feel ok being brutally honest in your interview. The third interview started very well as the interviewers actually showed up on time (there's a first time for everything!). I was interviewed by two managers and they opened the interview explaining in full detail what job opportunities they were looking to fill, asking me my opinion on the whole matter and what position sounded most intriguing to me. They even gave me the chance to meet and talk with some other people in the department. I had a lovely time and found that 1% chance steadily rising with every minute. Towards the end of the interview, I decided to be brutally honest and explain how I thought their whole interview process, prior to that day ,made me feel upset for reasons of not respecting my time and also not making me feel like my opinion mattered. I asked if this type of attitude would role over into my day to day at Cambia. The two interviewers, at the time, handled it like champs! They said they appreciated my honesty and said they would take it to into consideration for further interviewers and assured me that it was not the attitude that would be in the day to day. I was so impressed that two people I could potentially be reporting to were ok with me being honest and critiquing a process and I thought, "These are the kind of leaders I want to work for!"
The next day I got a call back from my recruiter who told me Cambia was going to send me an offer! I was looking forward to seeing what exactly they were going to offer. A few days later, my recruiter called me back and told me that Cambia withdrew their offer specifically because I had questioned their interview process. The exact question I asked that made me want to work for Cambia was the exact reason why Cambia didn't want me to work for them.
I'm still not exactly sure what happened. Did my recruiter lie to me? Why did Cambia say no after saying yes? It's not like I asked the question after the interview. I'm not sure but the way I see it is that Cambia couldn't show up on time, initially made no effort to convince me that they were the right fit for me, they were looking for a yes man, and they withdrew an offer. If that last part was on the recruiter, then I still hold Cambia responsible as their recruiters represent them.
I e-mailed the last two managers at Cambia to find out what happened and I never received an answer.