Am I the only one with these negative experiences?

I guess I should be glad I am at least getting interviews. But my experiences have been quite awful so far.

Phone interviews are terrible. And they aren't even my fault....
I had a phone interview where the call never came. Later they sent an email wanting to reschedule (never apologized for the missed call). I did reschedule. That call came 15 minutes late.
Another phone interview was where they gave me 1 day notice of a couple times to pick. I didn't get confirmation until one hour before the call. So I had to do it during my lunch time since I'm already at my current job. The interviewer seemed incredibly annoyed I was on a cell phone. I got the rejection letter the next day. Did he want me to call from my desk in front of my supervisor?
Yet another phone interview I had was with 3 people at the company on a conference call. The quality of the call was terrible (it was their end that had the problem). It had static. One of the guys you could barely hear. I asked if we can reschedule when the call will be more clear. They refused. I never heard anything back from that place.

Face-to-face interviews haven't been a whole lot better. I mean, I've had one interview where the interviewer was not even there when I showed up and the receptionist and no one there had any knowledge I was coming in. One company wanted to give me a job offer but wanted me to put in notice at my current job before I even have the offer in writing.

I'm just shocked at how unprofessional some of these places are. Is this typical or am I the only one with these kind of experiences?

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Comments

TheFORCE

Where are you interviewing for these jobs? Care to provide location? I mean I've had similiar experience with calls being low quality or having no service. Usually I try to prepare and get my self in a quite area or good reception area 5-10 minutes before the call.

Phone interviews save a lot of time but I've been readyijg more and more articles not suggesting them to hiring managers.

My experience having done quite a few phone interviews is that none of them translated to an offer and only a few went further into in person interview. Usually if I have better luck when getting in person interviews from the start. But I dont say no to phone interviews, they serve their purpose in my book, preparing me for the actual interview, calming down nerves and making me adjust my approach or language that i use during the interview. But for sure you are not the only one with this type of experience. Just take it as experience builder.

scaredoftests

I could write a book about some of my experiences in interviews! LOL

Dojiscalper

Pretty much seeing what your seeing.

thomas_

I got hired from a phone interview, just one call and no follow up in person interview.

tmtex

I was laid off June 2015.(Yes I have a job right now but not one I want) OMG I also could also write a book. The Indian recruiters, LinkedIn recruiters, BS recruiters from Indeed...etc. Then you have the corporate 20 yr old HR person who calls you for a phone screen.
I know the phone screen is a phone screen, what salary are you expecting ....That makes sense. I HATE phone interviews. The whole thing of when you both speak at the same time and the no go ahead, no its ok you go ahead. One time I was in the car and the guy accused me of looking up and answer to some a question because I said, ahhh. I was like I am in a car.
I did go on an interview last week that I had no business being there but did have fun picturing in my mind of what this HR girl naked as she told me all about the company

IronmanX

tmtex wrote: »

The Indian recruiters, LinkedIn recruiters, BS recruiters from Indeed...etc. Then you have the corporate 20 yr old HR person who calls you for a phone screen.

I read a ummm i guess a linked in recruiters rant a few days ago about how rude a person she was trying to recruit was and that she has "black listed" them and they will never get a job through her etc..

Her big issue was when she reached out to him he gave a list of demands..... umm wait you cold called someone (she said it was an engineer position) about a potential position and they came back with a list of what they are looking for in said position. I don't see whats wring with that. This guy has probably been contacted 100s of times by linkedin recruiters AND if he has to give a list of "demands" she was with holding information about the position she was trying to fill.

Of course all the linkedin recruiters jumped in a talked about how these people will get no where with our them etc...

gespenstern

Tough times.

The economy is changing, many low level jobs get automated and eliminated, the rest get outsourced to India and China. It's not easy unless you are among the best of the best.

RHEL

I have not applied/interviewed for many jobs in my 6-7 year career, but I have certainly seen some of this.

Mozilla sticks out very distinctly in my mind in late 2009 when I was searching for my first job post college. The recruiter missed 3-4 meetings with me and when she made them, she was 30mins late. Very unapologetic. After much of this, she scheduled a meeting with the director of IT. No show. I was called a few days later and was asked to reschedule on a day that I was traveling out of state on vacation. I said I'd make the interview. No show. Apparently the director had to catch a last minute plane for another meeting.

After this went on far too long, I received another offer. I thanked Mozilla for their time, but never even received a reply back to that.

Not the best experience.

I've had recruiters with RackSpace ask to meet with me and no show. I've had other large companies not call when they said they would. I'm thinking it's the norm. Recruiters probably overbook themselves and then forget about people or blow them off.

scaredoftests

I had an interview where I had to take one of those stupid tests before a interview was scheduled. I passed I guess and the lady seemed really impressed and wanted to interview me. So, one was scheduled (I had another interview scheduled before this). I rushed home and took a shower. Got to the interview and this lady proceeds not to interview me, but to tell me the results of the test (I think to myself, she could have emailed this to me). She then proclaims, that we are too much alike and it wouldn't work out. WTF. I felt like giving her a piece of my mind, but held back. Thanked her and left.

fmitawaps

I've had many negative interview experiences myself.

I've been hired from a single phone call. Very rare.

I've been NOT hired after phone calls THEN an in person interview, THEN weeks of them trading messages with my references!

I've had endless conversations with temp agency idiots who want me to explain my whole I.T. employment history instead of reading the provided resume. They want ME to explain my qualifications to THEM, when they don't know the first thing about I.T. . I could probably make something up and they wouldn't know the difference. I'll have to try that sometime.

I've been applied to many jobs through agencies, only to be told things like:

"The job is on hold"
"The hiring manager is on vacation"
"We want to move on this quickly, you'll hear back on Monday" (I was told this on a Friday, then of course I never heard back)

And many other things that resulted in NOT getting a job.

These things tend to make one a bit pessimistic about jobs, employers, temp agencies, and the world in general.

IronmanX

People should get on GlassDoor and right down their reviews.

Node Man

I think this is one slice of a very diverse spectrum. It seems like things change for the better once someone gets connected into the industry. Some people have contacts in many companies and they are constantly being offered jobs. "Have you decided to join us yet?"

OmegaNuller

Same here I hate phone call interviews

tjb122982

A couple of my best one's:

1. Driving two hours to an interview and discussing things that were not on the job description or qualifications. To top it off, getting the rejection email within 90 minutes after the interview (as I'm driving back). Suffice to say, they did not get a thank you not.

2. Getting a phone screen interview unannounced and then being told if the in person interview was to happen, I would be called the same day. They didn't call back.

beads

Personally, at this level I won't schedule time off for a face to face interview without a phone interview first. This saves me from utterly wasting my time with idiot managers and job descriptions that have nothing to do with the role pitched to me in the first place. Common. I have been hired or at the very least hired over the phone to include this gig as a security architect doing more R/S and networking and less security than I should be but a nice trip down CCNA lane. So, this is a mixed bag of undesirable situations. Welcome to tech! Its been like this for decades and doubtful its ever going to change. Technical people and the miserable souls tasked to find us tend not to be the most socially literate folks going. For example: Yours truly.