Bait-and-switch final interview

About a month ago, I applied for a role called 'Manager of Business Process'. I made fist-round interview and written test. So, I attended final interview. Although I did not expect much I experienced what it seemed to be bait-and-switch tactic.

There were 3 interviewers - HR rep, Senior Manager of Business Process (I had met her before in the first interview), and surprisingly Senior Manager of IT Support. I thought it was weird at first but I have been in interviews with managers from other teams because I might be working closely with that team. Sadly, this was not the case.

HR rep started by talking about how the firm was growing etc and there was a role called 'Senior Business Analyst' (this falls under IT support). He asked me if I was interested. I knew that something was off right away. Well, I did not even apply for that job. Plus, I have held that role before so I had zero interest and thought it was a slap in the face. Since I did not want to be rude (Senior Manager of that team was there) I said yes. So the manager started talking 'Senior Business Analyst' role etc. I could not care less of course.

After the interview, I expressed my honest thought. I said I was confused and was not sure which role I was being considered. HR rep said I was being considered for BOTH roles. Of course, I did not believe that statement. After the interview, I did not feel good. It was obvious that I did not make it, which was find but I wish HR just had some decency to tell me that and asked me if I would be interested in another role before the interview so that I would not waste my time. Plus, I had to take a day off for this too.

I know that so many things could go wrong during hiring process. I thought I have experienced my fair share of sucky interviews. But honestly, I did not see this coming. Thanks for listening to my rant and sincerely hope this does not happen to TE members. Wish you guys the best.

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Comments

N7Valiant

Heh, happened to me before. Applied for an office position, was told at the last minute that it wasn't an actual position they had, but hey we have an opening for customer service!

I think next time I'll just flip them off before walking right out the door.

UncleB

Big-JJ wrote: »

I applied for a role called 'Manager of Business Process'....
HR rep started by talking about how the firm was growing etc and there was a role called 'Senior Business Analyst'

I suspect they either had already found someone else for the role or were not sure you were right for it so were considering a downgraded or minion role for you. They may also have lost the headcount for a manager so had to adapt the role to be an analyst role instead. Who knows and now, who cares now they have shown their true colours?

I've found there are a great deal more incompetent hiring managers than deceitful ones so you may have dodged a bullet there.

Whatever the reason, it happens all too often and you just have to take it in your stride and keep going with the job hunt.

In the scheme of things it was not really that bad - I've had worse where the hiring manager went off on a rant about the person I was replacing, thumping the table and generally sealing my decision to walk away from it. Speaking to some of the staff later revealed he was a terrible bully but knew enough to do it all behind closed doors one-on-one so it was all heresay.

Nisseki

I had a similar experience a long time ago when I was fresh out of college.

I saw a technical support role at a call center, I applied for it and interview went really well but got a phone call from HR and said I wasn't "fit" for the role and I was more suited for their customer service and had to go to another interview for that one.

Even though I had a college diploma in IT and no one else in the group interview did the role play correctly.

scaredoftests

I hate that. Very irritating!

cyberguypr

Lesson learned: beware of the "fist-round" and select your punches carefully

This sucks. Never experienced it but have heard many similar stories. Hell, a guy applied to my company for an IT compliance role and somehow our recruiter (useless human being) was pushing him into a desktop support job instead.

tedjames

Same thing happened to me when applying for a job through TEKsystems. They called me about a job they were staffing for and had me come in for an interview. Questions were all very general, and then they had me fill out a five page application. Then they told me that they didn't really have any job openings but would call me as soon as they did. Total waste of my time.

networker050184

One way to look at it is they liked you enough to consider finding a spot for you even if it wasn't the original one. I'd take it as a compliment and not burn the bridge.

Fulcrum45

tedjames wrote: »

Same thing happened to me when applying for a job through TEKsystems. They called me about a job they were staffing for and had me come in for an interview. Questions were all very general, and then they had me fill out a five page application. Then they told me that they didn't really have any job openings but would call me as soon as they did. Total waste of my time.

Oh man- I would have been moving some furniture in that office. It's bad enough when a legit employer has you upload a resume only to regurgitate it again further into the application process- but this? There would have been a misunderstanding.

joelsfood

I don't know that I'd call this bait and switch. Sounds like they told you about a second position at the start of that intervbiew and you chose to say yes to being interested (despite not being so).

EnderWiggin

This doesn't really sound like bait and switch. If they asked you if you were okay with being considered for the other position, and you said yes, they didn't do anything wrong.

For my current job, I interviewed for a pen testing position. They made an offer, I accepted. Here it is nine months later, and all I've done the entire time is comb through SIEM logs, looking for intrusions. Now THAT is bait and switch.

N7Valiant

tedjames wrote: »

Same thing happened to me when applying for a job through TEKsystems. They called me about a job they were staffing for and had me come in for an interview. Questions were all very general, and then they had me fill out a five page application. Then they told me that they didn't really have any job openings but would call me as soon as they did. Total waste of my time.

Oh? I had an interview with them recently. Let's see if they try the same thing.

joshuamurphy75

I've had that happen before. Even started a job once, to be told on the first day of work that I was going to cover for somebody for a few days before starting the position I was hired for. Ended up with a different title, job duties, even pay than what was agreed upon. I gave them the benefit of the doubt for two weeks before submitting my two week notice.

Mooseboost

I have had that trick attempted on me a couple of times. One of them was for a larger company who tried to pull the "Yeah but you will still work at this awesome place!" ploy. Both times were for position I think they had trouble filling because of the managers requirements so they attempted to bring people in for a higher level position and then trying to sell them on something else.

Sorry you had to deal with that. It is an experience you can learn from though and now you should have a better feeling for it in case another company tries that.

NOVA_USA

Just remember, there is more to the interview than just interviewing you. There are things behind the scene that you don't know about even before you walk in the door. <Politics> That's just how it goes.