Interview experience - RF Cafe Forums

 Post subject: Interview experience

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:43 pm 

Hey all. I just thought you might like to hear about a recent interview I had in Minneapolis last week just before Thanksgiving. It went like this.

Got a call from a headhunter back in September about a great opportunity with a well-known company in Minneapolis. OK good. It's only a state away and I'm renting a house so I agree to an interview. After a lot of "coaching" by the HH about my resume, he set me up. I considered myself qualified by what I originally had on the resume, but he thought it should be refocused. The first interview went well in the first week of October. No word back for a couple weeks - not unusual. At the end of the month I got a call back from the HH about a followup interview at same place. Went again, had a good experience, was basically assured I'd be getting an offer. A couple more weeks go by and finally I call the HH for a status. Turns out he had a run in with the HR department and was no longer working with them. No details, and he said the company probably won't call me since they'd owe him a fee. I called the manager that I interviewed with and he confirmed that the company didn't want to pay the guy anything for any reason even if it means missing out on my experience. I guess that's a sign of the times - good thing I'm still gainfully employed. One thing's for sure, I won't be conduting any more business through headhunters. Any one else out there ever had a similar experience?

 Post subject: Re: Interview experience

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:17 pm 

While I have not had that experience, I find the headhunters usually look out more for their own position than they do for mine. A recruiter tried to press me into a position I had concerns about. He was more interested in getting his comission than he was with my being happy and satisfied with the position. I typically find I have better luck on my own. I find using the Career Builder, Monsters and some of the others to be for more effective. I also find that Linked IN to be of some use and recruiters and employers are using it more to find out more about the people they hire. I had several contacts due to Linked IN this winter.
Then you have the big companies that take forever to make a decision. One had me strung along for over 8 weeks leading up to Christmas after a successful interview and background investigation. They took 5 weeks to decide they wanted me to reapply as a temp employee, only offered me a temp position, no insurance and no prospect of perminant employment. It took them another 3 weeks to sign off the offer letter. Meanwhile, I found another position that wanted someone right away, hired me with a small bump in pay, covered my insurance as of the first of the year when my severance ran out and had me start the next day after my interview. Needless to say the big company lost out.

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