Applied to an online posting that advertised a job fair being held from 7am to 7pm. I arrived at the venue and was greeted by awkward looks upon walking through the door and asked if I had an appointment. I explained that I came across the job posting on indeed.com and was not aware that (due to it not being stated) I was supposed to receive a call from a recruiter to schedule a time for that day. I was then taken to a waiting area where I waited around 8 minutes to interview with one of the two Area Managers. The area manager explained that first we will go over my experience listed on my resume and proceed on to behavioral questions. I only managed to discuss my most recent employment before the conversation was directed to the behavioral questions. Through this process it was discussed that the Area Manager had a very similar employment background,in addition to how my experience fits in line with what they are looking for, causing me to believe things were going well. At the end it was explained the projected timing and advancement of the position and that at the end of the job fair they will be reviewing the resumes and information gathered and will be contacting candidates within the following week to schedule follow-up interviews to discuss store placement and pay. At 7:03pm I received an email from the recruiter stating "While your skills are certainly impressive we have decided to pursue other candidates." I found the timing to be a bit strange since I was informed that at the end of the event they will be discussing the candidates, the event was scheduled to end at 7:00pm so in the course of three minutes my credentials were discussed, it was decided I will not be a candidate for the positions they were looking to fill, and an email was sent out (rather fast if you ask me). However, I took it in stride and responded to the email thanking them for their time and the opportunity as well as requesting feedback on my interview so I may know what areas i would need to improve on to make myself a more viable candidate should I be presented with the opportunity in the future. I have yet to receive a response.

After being turned down for the position without being given the chance to interview, I was contacted months later by a recruiter. The wording of his email was "I think you would be a great candidate for the management training program." I arrived to a "job fair," which was a rented hotel conference room where I sat with over 15 other excellent candidates, probably having the same inner conversation with themselves that I was having, especially those of us waiting in silence from 15-30 minutes. My first impression of the company was not favorable. If Firestone really seeks quality candidates, they might think about a different presentation than herding everyone in to a room and with a recruiter occasionally remarking about being respectful of our time while waiting to be herded in to a second room and using a generic questionnaire as interview questions.