I was sent a very informal email from an internal recruiter with Creative Circle asking if I could come into the office. It has been the case before (a few times) that when I have interviewed for a recruiter position with a contingency agency that the recruiter will lead me to believe that I am interviewing for an internal recruiting role, but will instead try to place me for a job order that they are currently working. Contingency recruiting is sales, so...I insisted on an initial phone interview to find out more about the role and to verify that this is in fact for a recruiter role. The recruiter reluctantly agreed via email. She called me the following day and was beyond irritated with me. She asked what questions I had and I asked standard questions appropriate such as "What are the benefits?" and "What is the PTO?" She responded to me asking me why I'm even asking these questions--I said that these are standard questions. She then said that she had already booked up her week when she would be coming into town with back-to-back interviews and she'll see if she can fit me in later on. I can tell that I will most likely not be getting a second interview. I have never had someone be so overtly rude to me in an interview. Yikes! It has been my experience that contingency recruiting seems to attract very ego-driven personalities whom cannot be bothered to adhere to standard professional practices such as initial phone screening and polite rhetoric. This is perhaps the wrong field for me to begin with.

I started with a phone interview with an internal recruiter, then a phone interview with the Regional Director. After two phone interviews, I met with the RD face-to-face, then sat in with the local team for a work day.