Job Interview Series: A Tour Instead of an Interview

During this job hunt, I can’t help but think back to past interviews. So, I’d like to kick off a new series on this blog where I recount my job interview stories. Job hunters, you can laugh and cry in catharsis. Recruiters and employers, you can glean some inspiration for cool stuff to do and what not to do.

To kick this off, I’m going back to one of my first interviews in the endeavor to find my first full time job after graduation.

The year was 2016 and I had newly graduated with my degree in English. I had part-time work experience in graphic design, email marketing, and copywriting. I had taken a few marketing courses as electives and I knew that’s what I wanted to focus on for my career.

The problem was that my degree was in English and I was hunting for entry level jobs in marketing. I had a difficult time getting traction despite having actually worked in marketing and advertising for years at that point because all the job descriptions wanted someone with a degree in business or marketing. (Luckily, now in content marketing job descriptions, I see that employers want those of us with degrees in English-  but that wasn’t the case just six and a half years ago).

So, my mom saw (in the newspaper, probably) that a nearby city hall was hosting a job fair. She recommended I go because whatever office I’d have to commute to would be close by, and maybe if I could connect in person, I could get myself an interview. Good point!

I drove on down to the job fair and went around evaluating the opportunities and companies there. I quickly ascertained that most of the jobs were not white-collar jobs and would likely not be a fit after graduating. I narrowed down my search to a few that sounded promising, hoping to get something out of the time and gas invested to show up.

My first stop was a well-known eyewear brand. I chatted with the brand representative and learned they were seeking candidates for their customer service center, and the pay was about $15 per hour. (Funnily enough, I ended up starting my career in customer service, but at about 33% higher starting pay). I thanked them and passed.

My second stop was what I thought was going to be something in real estate, but ended up being in timeshare sales. The intriguing poster of beautiful tropical locations did not win me over because my only experience with timeshares was my parents getting letters inviting them to free trips if they sat through the mandatory timeshare presentation. Moving on…

My final stop was at a direct mail provider that miraculously needed an entry level marketing hire. I was so stoked – this is what I came for! And, the person at the booth was not just a brand representative but the hiring manager for the role. We spoke, I handed him my resume, and we scheduled an onsite interview for the next week. I left feeling so encouraged that I finally landed an interview.

In the meantime, I read more of the job description and researched the company. I remember they specifically stated that they expected this employee to work 45 hours a week minimum, and I believe the salary range was $45,000  - $55,000. This seemed like the going rate at the time, but I remember just feeling so not excited by the prospect that they downright expected me to work at least nine-hour days for an entry level job. I also saw all of the cheesy bios of the marketing team with a photo that was supposed to give it some personality, and remember feeling the first pangs of cringe at leftover Boomer style corporate America.

But, I needed the money and experience, so I certainly wasn’t going to push back.

The interview rolled around and I showed up on time. The receptionist showed me to the conference room where I’d speak with the hiring manager. I think he showed up on time, and we got started.  We discussed some of the basics of the role, then he gave me the grand tour of the office and printing facility. I don’t know why that was the top of the agenda, but I went along with it.

The hiring manager was a tall, lanky man in a suit. I’m 5’3 and was wearing some kind of appropriate but fitted business dress and probably wore heels because I wanted to look ~professional~ and also I need the extra two inches of height. But, I’m not particularly great at walking in non-wedge heels and I was definitely worse at 22. So, I distinctly remember fighting for my life trying to keep up with this man who walked aggressively fast and talked the other direction in this loud printing press room. The whole time I remember just wondering why we were doing this tour before talking about my qualifications.

We complete the tour and go back to the conference room, ready to finally discuss the job and my skills. A few minutes in, some other employee politely knocks and sticks his head in and calls out to the hiring manager that they had some other important meeting. The hiring manager apologized but instantly wrapped up the interview.  At some point he had let me know the team would be selecting candidates for the next interview stage and notifying people Wednesday following week.  

Obviously, I was crushed. But, I also held out hope that since he double booked himself that maybe I would automatically get pushed to the next round.

Naïve me.  

I waited and waited and then no email with an update ever came. I did email him to check in two days after the date he said he would have an update, and he replied three minutes later (yes, I still have the email thread) saying he would have more information the following week.

I never heard back again. So not only did I drive to their office basically for a tour of a printing facility, but was scheduled over, then ghosted.

It was the first of many in a string of poor hiring practices, I would later come to learn. But in the moment, burgeoning professional Hope thought that at a minimum, you should treat your candidates for roles in your marketing department professionally because just maybe those people could turn into your clients as they work in other marketing departments. That just seemed like basic business sense to me - no business degree required to figure that one out.

Maybe he was just trying to fill up his mandatory nine hours a day with interviews tours and getting some steps in instead of working?