Hi all, posted this in AIBU but no replies. To be fair it’s not anywhere near as interesting as all those cheating husband stories.
I applied for a job last month. I had all the desirable criteria as well as the essential criteria, and over 10 years of experience in a very similar role. The job application process was being dealt with by a recruitment agency, rather than directly by the company itself.
I was invited for an interview, which I felt went fine. However, I heard back from the recruiter a few days later that it was a ‘no’ and the company wouldn’t be progressing my application to second interview stage. I was disappointed but thanked the recruiter and asked her if she could get some feedback from the company so that I’d know in which areas I’d need to improve. She said she “hadn’t been able to get any feedback but she’d try”.
A few days later the recruiter rang back; I was expecting feedback, but instead she said that a few more roles had opened up and I was being invited to a follow up interview the next day. As part of this, I was asked to email three examples of my work to the company’s HR department and be prepared to talk about them at the interview. I had less than 24 hours notice for this and also had to take a half day’s leave from my current job to travel to the interview.
Had the follow up interview and it went better than the first one. A few days later, the recruiter rang again and said the company were offering roles to 2 of the other people who had also done a follow up interview; if one of them didn’t accept, I was ‘first reserve’ and a role would be offered to me. If they all accepted, a third role might be opening up down the line and it would automatically be offered to me. I said that was fine and took it as a positive that they’d hopefully have a role for me at some stage.
However! Today, once again, I heard from the recruiter. She said she was sorry to deliver bad news but the company had decided to withdraw the offers of all the roles - including, as I understood it, the 2 other people, one of whom had already accepted! I was really confused by this and asked what had happened; the recruiter said she didn’t know and would try to find out when she meets with the company next week.
I’m really pissed off at being messed about, and I don’t know whether it’s been a matter of miscommunication from the recruiter or if she’s being completely straight with me and it’s the company being awkward. This particular company always did their own recruitment in the past and I know this is the first time they’ve gone through a recruitment agency.
I have the email address of the HR person at the company as it was him I sent the examples of my work to, and he was also on the interview panel both times. I’m tempted to email him directly for feedback and some clarity on the situation, but I don’t know if this would be out of line.
AIBU to think this hiring process has been a shitshow?! Then again, maybe this is normal? I’ve not been jobhunting for a long time and have never gone through a recruitment agency before.