Contacted via LI by their in-side HR recruiter. Great guy, we corresponded several times via email and spoke on the phone more than once. Was asked to take a personality assessment (I think they are a joke), had to do it online while my phone was in Face Time so the recruiter could see that it was me taking the test...that was a new one. I did fine and was moved along to a phone interview with the regional manager which also went well. After the meeting the manager said I would hear from the recruiter the next week (actually took two weeks) to set-up a face to face interview. Everything was set and I drove over 2 hrs to the meeting. Pretty standard questions, didn't feel any vibe from the manager. I was asked to do a little research on the company and I went a couple better than this by calling a local school district IT dept and interviewed one of their people one how they came about their recent change in platform. I then used information she gave me to track down a regional facility that does tech training for the northeast of NY. I found out this guy lived a mile from me, where he liked to go for a beer, as well as all sorts of other personal info. The manager couldn't believe I gathered this much information and that these people were willing to talk with me. I said that's what I do.
He had been in the industry as long as I have so we talked about trends etc. He kept asking why I wanted to do this job (Not that I told him this but I have been out of work for over a year and a need a job) as if I should know better than to do this. I did know better, he clearly was trying to talk me out of the company and the job. I asked about the quota structure and after he told me I gave him this knowing look that making quota wasn't even a possibility.
He told me I wold hear from him or the recruiter next week. I didn't. So the following week I emailed the recruiter and we then talked on the phone. Apparently the manager was not going forward with ANY of the 9 people he interviewed for the openings he had. The recruiter said he didn't know what the guy was looking for. I then went over my interview and the vibe I got that the manager was trying to talk me out of the job. The recruiter said wow, you are the second person to tell me that. So this was a BIG waste of my time and emotional energy. I can only guess that this whole process was for show. I'm not sure what kind of show but clearly they were not hiring.