How NOT to Hire Someone - Part II

So, in part I of this saga, you learned how I'd been back burnered by a company that I had been interviewing with. When I made this post, following my second interview with the CEO, I wasn't sure what to do. My good friend Eydie called and offered me the advice of contacting the VP of Marketing, the hiring manager, to address any concerns that he had and the CEO had again to be sure that he had the ammunition to fight for me. Which I did. I left three voice mails for the VP and sent one follow up email. But I didn't hear from him until two days later when he sent this email:

Got your messages. Sorry about the delay. I spoke with the CEO and let me give you an update.

1) CEO has been asking me about marketing and our long term plan. he wants to invest a lot more money in marketing for a number of reasons in 2H’07.

2) As such, he wants to make sure whomever we bring in for Marketing is a real pro.

3) I represented that I believe you are very good, and your references where solid.

4) The CEO wants me to investigate one other candidate that he has forwarded. We are interviewing them on Friday.

I apologize for the process. This is not how I like to work. However, he’s the boss. I will let you know where we stand on Monday.

So, Monday came and went... didn't hear anything. So Tuesday at the end of the day, I sent a follow up note, just asking if he had made a decision. I've not heard a thing from him. I can not believe that now, after he said there was an offer for me, that he won't even call to let me know that they are going with some one else. No apology or anything. Really can't believe that! A new low for the job search process.

How NOT to Hire Someone

As you know I was laid off last May from my job with Dot Hell. I interviewed actively from June to December, early January, when I decided to really focus on building a freelancing business and work on my other business idea. But back on Friday, March 9th I interviewed with a software company here in San Diego. The opportunity came about through networking which proves that networking does work... however, I'm so disenchanted with the hiring process I want to cry.

I interview with SIX people in a four hour time frame March 9th, including the CEO. I did my due diligence following up once a week with the hiring manager. On March 27th, I get this email:

thanks Sarah. I made a recommendation to the CEO to bring you on board. He is in NY today and I should hear from him later. Let me talk to him and I will give you a call later today or tomorrow.

Will need references – I assume you have them. Just 2 please.

Then don't hear from him, even though he said he would call. So I follow up a week later and receive an email from him to call him. So I do, thinking this sucks that I have to call this guy to hear that they are going with someone else. But when I do call I hear from him that he wanted to talk salary and would craft an offer letter. I get this email Monday of this week:

We are close. I setup the offer letter. Our CEO has to review and when he gets it back to me, I can send over.

Then on Tuesday, I get a call from the CEO's assistant requesting a follow-up phone interview for Thursday. She calls on Wednesday, asking to re-schedule for a face-to-face interview on Friday. So, went on the interview today and now I hear that there are a couple of additional candidates they want to meet with before making a decision. That I'm the only one they've brought in for a second round, everyone likes me... and they'll get back to me.

I'm so F'ing sick of being on the back burner. At this point I want to tell them step off. This is crap! I am so over the job interview process. It's clear to me that my future manager can't get decisions approved by the CEO.

This is my life too. This is a horrible experience from my perspective and really gives me doubt about working for this company. I really want to opt-out. I'm going to give the weekend to think about it and if I feel the same way on Monday, I probably will.

No Fast Food - Lasted 37 days

So, I just broke down - drove all the way over to Chick-fil-a for a chicken breakfast sandwich. I woke up not feeling all that great. I've been so busy over the last week. Mostly just preparing for interviews. Can I tell you how sick of interviewing I am? Last week interviewed with a company, the HR person told me the VP would probably ask me about strategy at company I worked at two jobs ago, in 1999! So I spent hours researching that, talking to people about the company to refresh my memory. Did he ask me anything? No! Then had interview this week with a big company. Was warned they would ask questions like how my electric poles in San Diego or how many pencils manufactured each year. Questions that would demonstrate my reasoning/thinking abilities. Did they? NO! AGGGGGGHHHHH! So over interviewing.

Back to the fast food breakdown. So I slipped once in 37 days. That's great! I'm going to see if I can go till end of March, as that is my original goal. The thing is, if I was going to slip, I wish it had been the shopping sabatical. At least if I bought some new clothes or shoes, I'd have something to show for it. With food, well, the enjoyment is fleeting.