Terrible experience with a recruiter here. A connection on LinkedIn posted they were hiring at Applied Systems. I was qualified for the role so I reached out and they forwarded my information to a recruiter. The recruiter sent out an invite for the initial screening via Zoom. At the date/time of the screener they were ~15 minutes late to a 30 minute call. When they finally showed up - without apology - it was clear they were in a terrible mood. There was no small talk or introduction. They launched immediately into asking me screener questions they were just reading off of their monitor. They asked a question that I needed clarification on and they paused and then said "Fine. I'll let someone else handle that one." They had no information about the role, couldn't or wouldn't answer my questions about the role or the process. Then they told me my resume was "terrible" and that they would never have chosen me for an interview except my LinkedIn connection directly asked for them to schedule a screener with me. The whole thing was a giant red flag, so I emailed the recruiter asking to withdraw my application. No response to that, but then the recruiter starting calling me and leaving messages about scheduling the initial interview with the hiring manager. I relented and went ahead with the hiring manager interview. The people on that call were professional and we had a good conversation. They were already pretty far into the hiring process for that role, and I understood that and still just appreciated the opportunity to chat and have a conversation about the role and the company. I expected a rejection email, but instead got nothing, which at that point was fine.

Thought the interviews went well, I went through all 4 which took a month. Didn’t hear back about an offer till I reached out. JUST to be told that they hired internally instead. Meaning I was the equal opportunity interviewee. Note to hiring people, don’t put someone through all that time when you know you’re just hiring internally.