I applied to this position via a Craigslist ad. I answered 3 questions about my short term goals, long term goals, and what I was passionate about in life as well as including my resume. Within a few minutes Karen emailed me saying that she loved my answers and wanted to set up a phone interview. I scheduled it for the next day.
Karen spoke mostly about the company and what they were doing. She told me about the recruiting role and what was required of it. It was technical recruiting as they were focusing on hiring mostly engineers. I was surprised because from my experience companies want technical recruiters to have years of recruiting work history. We touched on how I had 6 months of ops recruiting experience but mostly focused on the company. I thought it was a bit strange because in our 30 minute conversation she only asked me a few questions (mostly about what I was look for; growth, opportunity, ect) and spent most of the time actually talking about the company but I was happy to come in for an onsite.
I arrived for the onsite and was immediately impressed by how happily decorated the office was. Bright colors and playful plushies were everywhere. I had a conversation with Karen about my transition from my current job to the potential recruiting role. We spoke for about 30 minutes, she told me some stories about how she got to where she was in the company. She brought the CEO in (Deena) who asked me 1 question about why I was transitioning and then Deena nodded at Karen. Karen then offered me the position. They said the position paid $15/hr which I was very disappointed in. Karen wanted me to get started as soon as possible so she started telling me about different recruiting platforms she wanted me to start using. It was very confusing because it felt like she wanted me to jump right in, I'm a self starter/go getter kind of human but I've never been a technical recruiter.
I left after she told me she would send the contract and paperwork to me over email. I intended to try and negotiate the pay but that afternoon I was offered a salaried position as an office manager. It was substantially more than what Wanelo was offering as well as being a permanent full time position with benefits (health, dental, equity in the co, commuter, ect). I thought about my offers over the weekend and sent Karen a very polite email saying that I would be accepting a position more in line with my financial and career expectations. This morning I received a very condescending email about how to negotiate pay in my future career endeavors. I don't appreciate being spoken down to especially when Wanelo wouldn't have been able to pay me anywhere near what this position offered nor would they have been able to guarantee me the job security given that their position was contract (especially when the reviews here show that the CEO Deena fires as many people as she hires). I chose not to negotiate because my other offer gave me far more growth opportunity (as well as more financial freedom) and given that I accepted the position, I certainly didn't need to be given tips for my "future career development".
Note to future candidates: Don't let the beautiful, colorful office and fashionable clothes confuse you, I believe the reviews on Glassdoor to be correct. The company clearly lacks the professionalism it needs to succeed in the bay area.
To the recruiters: You're going to have candidates accept better positions. You're in a very competitive industry and some people will view some offers as not worth negotiating. Unless you were willing to offer me 45k and a full time position with full benefits it wouldn't have been an advantageous situation for me. Sorry that I decided not to waste your time with trying to negotiate something out of your reach. There is no need to be unprofessional and condescending when a candidate refuses an offer, learn to accept that this will happen and maybe you'll find someone to fill the position.