I was initially contacted by a recruiting coordinating to schedule a 30-minute phone screen for an Executive Assistant position in the Charlotte office. In less than a week, I received a request for a virtual interview with the Administrative Coordinator in NY’s office. That conversation went well, and within a few days I received another request for another virtual interview with a Managing Director. Things were looking good and progressing well. The conversation with that MD was brief (he showed up 15 minutes late for the interview, so cut my time with him in half). Within a week, I received another interview request for another virtual interview with an MD. That conversation went well and I received yet another request for a Super Day in-person interview request. I had never heard that term, but it was supposed to be an in-person, final round panel interview. I was presented with options for time slots for 2 3-minute interviews. But some of the slots were spread over 2 days (The first 30-minute interview schedule on one day, with the second 30-minute interview on a subsequent day.) I selected three options that were held back-to-back on the same day, but then I received a message asking if I was available on the Friday preceding the next week’s interview. I said I could accommodate, and received an invitation for 1 30-minute in-person interview, with a 2nd VIRTUAL interview scheduled the following week, at the end of the day, at a time I had not indicated I was available. (A similar thing occurred when self-scheduling my first interview through Calendly with the Office Administrator. I selected several options that were provided, but received an email asking me to select additional times. My assumption was that if time slots were offered, they were available!) After receiving the last scheduling request over two separate days, I realized that HL apparently wasn’t considering me as a serious top contender, because they kept changing the requests. I sent what I thought was a gentle reminder stating that I had already set aside time to participate in 4 interviews for an EA position, and I didn’t want to just go through the motions if they were offering other preferred candidates the more prime, in-office interview opportunities. The latest request put the interview at the next day, which I was excited about. I had coordinated my interview outfit and was getting prepared mentally for the next-day interview when, after 7pm, I saw I had a missed call from a NY number I didn’t recognize. I dialed the number back and said I had missed a call and someone identifying as HL’s Talent Acquisition Manager told me she had called. She informed me that after discussions that day, they had decided to go in a different direction as a “business decision.” She told me they had a temp in and were figuring out how to move forward. I asked her when she had planned to tell me that (after 4 interviews and the day before what was allegedly my “Super Day” interview)! She responded that my interview wasn’t until 4:30 the next day. WRONG – it was scheduled for 11:30 the next day, but even so, it was incredibly inconsiderate and unprofessional for them to have yanked me around like they did. I was truly excited about the possibility of working there and disappointed. I received an email from the Recruiter at 10:48pm that night canceling the interview. Good grief! Had I not pushed back on the number of interviews I’d been asked to participate in, perhaps the story would have had a different ending. But as I mentioned in my communication, I had a full-time job and each interview request required me carving time out of my schedule to accommodate. I was happy to do that, with the hope of the ultimate reward of a job offer, and when the Talent Manager introduced herself, for a second I thought they may have decided to forego the remaining interview(s) and offer me the position. That was not to be. It’s unbelievable how disconnected the Managing Directors are from the Office Administrator, Talent Acquisition Manager and Recruiters. For a company that specializes in “deal-making”, they certainly didn’t execute that hiring process smoothly. I expected it to be a fast-paced environment, and flexibility would have been key in the role, but I didn’t expect that they would disrespect my time the way they did. (Two of the four interviewers showed up late for their interviews!) Disappointed with the outcome? Yes. They could have done better. Had I kept my thoughts to myself, I might have received an offer. I would have even considered coming on as a “Temp” to prove myself, but that option was never discussed. Not getting to participate in the final-round, "Super Day" interview was disheartening.

It was a zoom interview due to Covid. I interviewed with 2 of the office managers and one of them did not say a word. The other office manager, while friendly, did all of the talking and really left me no room to interject. You can always tell when people are inexperienced at interviewing by that alone. The person who did not speak was the office manager for the office I would have been in and her attitude did not make me feel like the work environment there was very positive.