I was contacted for a phone interview and set the appointment. At the agreed upon time, I got a call and she asked to reschedule because she had "planned her day poorly" and I agreed. The actual phone interview went well and I was told that I would be contacted in about a month to do an in person interview as the next training class was a few months away. I was never contacted and reached out to them after I got an email to complete a survey about the interview process. I was told I had to apply all over again as they closed that specific opening and opened a new one for the same thing. So I sent my info in again and then got an in person interview.
The in person interview I went on was cumbersome in more ways than one. I was told specifically to arrive at least 15 minutes early to allow for some filling out of paperwork. I arrived 20 minutes early and the interviewer came to get me 5 minutes past my scheduled interview time. We went upstairs and he had me sit with someone to listen to calls. The person they sat me with was incredibly rude and standoffish, not only with me but the supervisor that walked me over there. The supervisor had said "Hey how was your weekend?" The the rep and the rep said " SHORT". The supervisor introduced me to him and he shook my hand like a wet fish. I asked him how he liked working there and he glared at me and didn't answer me. He proceeded to not say ONE WORD to me the entire time I was there, which was about 30 minutes. I had a few questions I wanted to ask him, but felt so uncomfortable and unwelcome that I kept my mouth shut. I realize that he was just doing his job, but this was NOT a good first impression to a potential employee.
After that the supervisor came to get me and we went back downstairs for the actual interview. It was the standard behavioral based questions..."tell about a time when you helped a team mate and what was the result" type thing. Being genuinely interested in the company and excited for the opportunity, I had written down a few questions to ask after the interview, most of which were met with "I don't know."
Then we went back upstairs so I could do some testing. I was asked if I needed to go to the bathroom, which was welcomed because I had been there for well over 2 hours already. It was kind of awkward however, to have both male interviewers wait outside the bathroom for me to finish ( I am female), but maybe that's just me. I was then led to the corner of the office to an empty desk around the corner. I was asked to write an impromptu paragraph, in paragraph form, on anything that I wanted to write about. When I asked if there was anything in particular they would like me to write about, they said "nope, surprise" and let me write while they watched. Again, awkward.
Then I had to go through all the testing. This was about an hour and a half more. I was told that someone would be back to check on me and to escort me out when I was done. No one came to check on me. After I finished, NOT ONE PERSON was around to escort me out. I stood up so that they would know I was done, and looked around from where I was for someone that I had been introduced to. Not having a security access badge or the slightest clue where I was in relation to any one of authority, I stood there for 20 more minutes until someone finally came over and said "oh I'm glad I looked over there, you are finally done? Those tests suck huh? I'm sure you did fine. I'll walk you out"
When I left the interview, the excitement I had for the opportunity was completely gone and I wondered if I would accept an offer if one was made based on how uncomfortable and rude the experience was. I felt like I was a burden to everyone I came into contact with that day. I would say that you should avoid walking the potential employee all around the building for different sections of the interview and explain what the purpose of that paragraph writing was all about. Were you looking to see if had enough brains in my head to properly compose a structured paragraph or looking to see what subject matter I was going to be writing about while you watched? Also if you say you will come back to check on me while I am completing a test. DO IT. If you have a potential employee in the office, make sure you know when they are ready to be escorted out and don't just leave them there at the desk standing there like a moron.
About 3 weeks later I got the auto generated "We regret to inform you that we have filled this position and and this time we have moved forward with another candidate" email, and was semi-relieved to be honest.