Baited and switched during interview: WTF?

[mrkilla]

as much as they suck and hard i would try not to burn the bridge, who knows maybe one day you will interview with some other firm where someone from this once worked .

Just because they are unprof doesn't mean you should be too is all.

[mmbt0ne]

KT,

should've stayed through the interview, and when they start talking compensation just go, "one meeelion dollars"

[kyleb]

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Also, I wouldn't give the recruiter so much credit. I have yet to meet one that isn't scum who just wants their commission as fast as possible.

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Oh god, here comes tuq.

[El Diablo]

KT,

That's completely amateur hour on the company's part. The way the company is supposed to do that is to interview you, talk about how much they like you, get you really pumped about the opportunity, and THEN mention that the only issue is they were really thinking about someone more senior for the Director level position and were taking a bit of a flyer with your interview. Then they talk about how much they like you and how much they want you, but it is hard to really justify going with you compared to the experience level of the other candidates. Hey, wait a sec, perhaps you'd be willing to consider coming in to this role in a manager position with a goal of quickly moving you up to Director level once you've demonstrated your abilities for a bit?

[Dids]

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Also, I wouldn't give the recruiter so much credit. I have yet to meet one that isn't scum who just wants their commission as fast as possible.

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Oh god, here comes tuq.

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To be fair, Tuq's a breath of fresh air relative to cbloom.

[tuq]

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Also, I wouldn't give the recruiter so much credit. I have yet to meet one that isn't scum who just wants their commission as fast as possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh god, here comes tuq.

[/ QUOTE ]
Lucky guess.

"Talent" is my collateral. The network of talent that I have worked with for nine years is gold. I nurture that network gently, and generally referrals are easy to come by as a result. In my best year I made 50 placements (high-end, not receptionists, so it was an achievement). I charted it out and 37 of the 50 were referrals at some point in the past.

Sure I could go out to Monster.com, but job boards are like nightclubs - there are a lot of available candidates, but most of them suck and are looking for a reason (to be fair there's some good ones too, but there's tons of chaff with that wheat). Plus that's a rookie move, anyone with a login and the ability to form sentences can go out there.

Recruiters are the best "in" to any company with which they're working. Applying directly is not, unless you value the opinion of Susie in HR, who is scanning resumes with one hand, jelly donut in the other, counting the minutes to 5PM and rejecting resumes as fast as she can so she doesn't have to work late.

OP, sorry to hear about your story but if you had a previously positive experience with the recruiter then she may be as baffled and frustrated as you are.

[KilgoreTrout]

Just to clarify, I excused myself from the interview before I met with the first functional rep. I told the HR twit that I wasn't interested in a lateral move at this time, and that the message the company was giving me was different from what the recruiter had told me. I said I would contact the recruiter to clarify things. I then left, called the recruiter, and headed home.

So I didn't walk out in a huff, didn't burn any bridges (HR types have little influence in my field), but neither did I waste my time schmoozing with them.

I'm fortunate that my field has far more open jobs than qualified candidates. I'm also fortunate that my area boasts the largest concentration of firms in my field in the US. I've gotten to know lots of colleagues over the years and I like to think I have a solid network.

I didn't realize this practice was so common. That doesn't mean I couldn't smell a rat at this place, though.

[DING-DONG YO]

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Applying directly is not, unless you value the opinion of Susie in HR, who is scanning resumes with one hand, jelly donut in the other, counting the minutes to 5PM and rejecting resumes as fast as she can so she doesn't have to work late.

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Yup, and I would just like to add that Susie is often hiring for CS rep, Oracle programmer, senior accountant, marketing director, etc. etc. etc. when she has no idea what skill set is needed for each of those positions.

For the OP, walking out would be acceptable but staying at least to talk with the first interviewer and sell yourself/not burn a bridge is prob the best move.

[cbloom]

[ QUOTE ]
Just to clarify, I excused myself from the interview before I met with the first functional rep. I told the HR twit that I wasn't interested in a lateral move at this time, and that the message the company was giving me was different from what the recruiter had told me. I said I would contact the recruiter to clarify things. I then left, called the recruiter, and headed home.

So I didn't walk out in a huff, didn't burn any bridges (HR types have little influence in my field), but neither did I waste my time schmoozing with them.

I'm fortunate that my field has far more open jobs than qualified candidates. I'm also fortunate that my area boasts the largest concentration of firms in my field in the US. I've gotten to know lots of colleagues over the years and I like to think I have a solid network.

I didn't realize this practice was so common. That doesn't mean I couldn't smell a rat at this place, though.

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Sounds like you handled it fine, but yeah this is so so standard. It doesn't make it okay, but I wouldn't really hold it against the company too much. You just have to roll your eyes and go on with it.

It's pretty standard practice for HR people doing hiring for a spot to just set up interviews with like 10 candidates. If they find one that they like they usually don't cancel the remaining interviews because they want to look for talent and possibly hire for other spots, so you can find yourself interviewing for a spot that's already taken. Just finding a resume of a talented person that you want to interview is a lot of work so people hiring don't want to give that up.

I went on a couple interviews where I was supposedly going in for a director interview and didn't learn otherwise until I was introduced to the guy they'd already hired to fill the spot I was interviewing for. Umm, okay. I would usually go ahead and finish the interview and just use it as a chance to find out more about the company so I'd know if I ever wanted to get a job there in the future.

BTW if you want to hear a [censored] thing to do - I know people who were hired, quit their old jobs, made relocation arrangements, and then told the position was no longer available. There's also the semi-standard practice of waiting for someone's first day on the job and then telling them that the spot they were expecting is no longer needed and they can do this other job instead. There are different levels of sin in business, at least you were told at a time when you could get out early.

ps. obviously there are good recruiters out there, tuq sounds like one, but the vast majority of them just fire applicants at openings regardless of the fit, I've seen this both from the candidate side and the hiring side.

[27offsuit]

Good play.


Balla imo.