I went through the interview process for a Corporate Trainer, Systems & Training role. While the early stages, mainly my interactions with the recruiter were professional and communicative, the overall experience left a lot to be improved upon.
My first conversation with the Chief Learning Officer felt unusually uncomfortable. She joined the interview over 10 minutes late without acknowledging the delay and her tone throughout the call came across as difficult to engage with. At times, my answers were challenged in a way that felt more combative than constructive, making it difficult to get a clear read on the expectations. It seemed like she had a very specific mold in mind based on the person who held the role previously, and rather than evaluating my experience on its own merit, I was frequently compared to that individual.
After multiple rounds, including strong feedback and the recruiter confirming I was the final candidate they wanted to move forward with, I was asked to reconnect with the CLO to “discuss growth and compensation.” Unfortunately, that follow up wasn’t a negotiation. It was more of a reiteration of why they weren’t willing to budge on the compensation range, despite market standards and my experience. It felt misleading and like my time wasn’t respected. Each interview was scheduled for a full hour, which felt like a big ask considering the overall process and lack of clarity on expectations.
Lastly, from what I gathered, it became clear that this role would require someone to take on a significant amount of heavy lifting.. from restructuring the training function to rebuilding core programs and improving reporting — yet the compensation did not reflect the scale or seniority of those expectations. Overall, it felt like the training team was understaffed and falling short in some key areas, and instead of hiring someone to genuinely support and elevate the function, the approach felt under-resourced.