I did one phone interview, then an in-person one which had a few rounds of standard questions and then an exercise checking graphs and data. Interview went fine, and the woman I talked to was very nice.
Then I had to come back in person for a second time which is where things went south. Usually a second in-person interview means an offer, or it is leading to the chance of an offer.
I met with a different employee, a male higher-up. This guy proceeded to tell me IN PERSON that I was not going to be hired for the job because they had hired someone more qualified, but asked if I would be willing to do "contract work." Did they actually have contract work available at that time? No. Were they expecting any in the near future? No.
Now irritated and confused, I asked more questions. The person they hired was for a managerial position, and so when I questioned further (because my job application was not managerial) I found out that they had set up multiple job postings "just to see who they could find."
He kept saying how he wanted to "honor me" by talking to me, and then commented that I didn't seem very happy about the (non-existent) contract work (I have no poker face). So let me shed some light on it for you.
I was UNEMPLOYED and living off of my personal savings after graduating (as an immigrant I did not qualify for government assistance at the time). Researching, preparing for, and attending interviews is a full-time job. It would have been bad enough learning that you advertised for positions you had no intention of hiring for since I had already done a phone interview and an in-person interview. I had already sunk hours of my limited and precious time into this, and the decent thing to do would have been to call or email me about the outcome.
But instead you chose to drag me downtown again to tell me IN PERSON that there was no job for me, proceeded to try to make yourself feel better by offering me contract work which by your own account did not exist and was not expected to exist anytime soon, and then commented that I "didn't seem very happy about the contract opportunity."
No kidding. You wasted my time and money having me come downtown for a second time, told me I didn't have a job, offered me non-existent work for non-existent pay with the vague promise that "we might need someone in the future." And I strongly suspect you did this because I was in a wheelchair and you didn't want me suing you for discrimination or causing trouble, hence the continuous loop of "I just wanted to honor you" which was very weird.
Just for the record on how to do things the correct way, another company was still interested in me after offering a job to a more experienced person. They informed me on the phone after my in-person interview that I didn't get the job but that they liked me, and then because they were actually genuinely interested in hiring me they kept in touch as positions came up (real positions, not imaginary ones). That is how you treat people whether they are in a wheelchair or not.
This was about three years ago, but I feel comfortable now calling them out because I no longer live in Canada and work in a different industry. With a small city, you have to be nice to everyone, including inconsiderate people like this because you don't want word getting out.
Since this is how they treated me pre-hiring, I'm very glad I did not end up working there. Basic courtesy is not so common, I guess.
