I was recruited by a friendly gentleman who promised workplace flexibility and a company culture that values collaboration.
The application was easy because it was a recruitment. The interview did not contain anyone with a technical knowledge of my field so they did not ask many questions, short of asking if I would be willing to take on some specialized workloads that were not in the job description. They were recruiting heavily so their interview seemed to be more focused on getting me to accept the job. The offer I received was very different from the job for which I was recruited. There were verbal promises (a flexible work from home schedule, education reimbursement and a quick path to a promotion after the job started) made in the interview that were quickly forgotten about when I began working. Looking back, I should have declined the first offer because years later I still don’t have anything in place that we agreed on in the interview, including the position to which I applied. If I could add some advice, for interviewees, it would be that this company is more likely to try to do business on a very friendly handshake than most, under the pretense that we treat each other like family, and forget about the agreement later. Have them put flex schedule specifics and any offers for education or training reimbursement in the offer letter. In my case I was in the uncomfortable position of not having the flex schedule we agreed on in the interview or recruitment process, and having to juggle an office-only position unexpectedly. All the friendly faces made me ignore a couple of very red flags.