I had a phone interview with a recruiter on January 26th and discussed the urgency of the position. I followed up a few days later via email, she informed me to hear back from the team in 1-2 days. I followed up, and sent an email follow up. On Feb. 14th, she emailed me back after not responding to my emails about a setting a phone interview with the team. I emailed her back very quickly about a phone interview for the next day. I never got a confirmation or an email back, so I assumed the interview was scheduled. On Feb. 15th, I waited for the team to give me a call, no call. I emailed the recruiter during that time to see if the team was given my phone number, no response to my email. Frustrated, I called her after the time I had allotted for the interview. She apologized and informed me she never sent a confirmation to them and inquired when I emailed her. I informed her that I did very quickly and she said that my email got "squished" between other emails. She informs me to pick another time and date from a list of times, so I did. Then I get an email from her later in the afternoon that none of those times or date worked and gave me an entirely different set of times. Finally, I get a phone interview scheduled for the Monday. I spoke with the team, and standard questions were asked. Later in the day, I get a phone call from the recruiter and eventually set up a on-site visit.
Upon my arrival to the site (Feb. 28th), I was not allowed to get into the site because no one had informed the security of my interview. After sitting in my car for some time, I finally was allowed inside for the interview. I had a great discussion with a lead member of the division about the company overall and the progress it has made over the past few months and afterwards sat in a conference room with the door open. An individual who was to interview me later in the day came in and said hello and called me by the wrong name. I overheard someone in the next room, who was the next person to interview me (who was also late), ask what my name was and what position I was applying for. As an applicant, this is very unprofessional to see a team of individuals unprepared for an interview I had prepared for extensively. In several instances during the interview, I was asked who was next on the schedule to interview me. Clearly no one knew what was going on and seemed to be thrown together at the last minute. In one portion of the interview with individuals I'd be working closely with, almost no questions were asked and several moments of silence. I had to ask them if they had questions. They came in the room with a list of questions that were already asked during the group phone interview. In addition, no walk through was scheduled and I had to ask for that. It seems as though this should have been a priority. During the walk through, I was given a dirty, grease covered lab coat to walk around the facility in. I would think other options would be available for potential new employees. The lab was very small and seemed disorganized.
After the interview, I noticed that the job title for what I applied for, a senior microbiologist, was changed to a microbiologist. Perhaps this was due to the fact I asked a question about what the difference was between the senior and lower role since two regular microbiologist employees sat in during the interview. Again, this highlights that no one really knew what was going on.
Overall it was highly unprofessional and I hope that future candidates will not have to jump through as many hoops as I did.
