Kohler has some self reflection to do. They pride themselves on management, leadership, and finding the right candidates for their culture, however, they treat potential candidates poorly. My experience is similar to what most reviewers have said about their HR Department. Slow to respond. Poor communication. Disrespectful treatment towards candidates. After spending several hours completing an antiquated personality assessment, and interviewing with several people, I have heard absolutely nothing. Not a peep. Seems hypocritical of a company that prides themselves on hiring thoughtful, strong, empathetic leaders to downright ghost a candidate. If this is how they treat candidates, how are employees treated? Oh, and I learned their PTO is 10 days for 5 years. Yes. 10 days of sick / vacation combined for 5 years. Clearly it’s a culture that expects their employees to never take time off. With most companies offering unlimited or at least 20 days of PTO, they don’t come close to being competitive.

I submitted my cover letter and application and was contacted about 4 days later by HR saying they were interested in me. I was then asked to type up and submit answers to "pre screening" questions regarding personality traits and interests related to the job (in their luxury furnishings division). I did so and did not hear from my HR contact for 8 days. I followed up regarding the status and was told they would like to schedule a phone interview later in the week. I had the phone interview, and some of the questions were qualitative, and I felt the HR person lacked proper training or knowledge of interior design to analyze and understand my responses. She robotically answered "Alright" to every single question. I understand it's an interview but was not conversational or engaging at all. She also asked for a salary range which I asked to disclose via email instead of over the phone. I was also told I would need to complete an hour long personality type test that they use to evaluate candidates, and send along a portfolio. I sent the portfolio and my salary and received a link to the test. However, when I went to take it, the link had expired. I checked my email and there was a curt note from HR saying my salary range was too high and that they would keep my resume on file for future positions. I replied back saying I had room to negotiate and asked what numbers they were working with. I didn't receive a response, so the following Monday I replied again saying I hoped we could resume the conversation. I also did not receive a response. Given the effort and time I had put in, the least HR could do would be to send an email saying they could not negotiate salary. Unfortunately this experience put a very bad taste in my mouth and I have zero interest in working for them going forward. The position I applied for specified a graduate degree I am in the process of receiving, but it seems like they are either incapable of paying commensurate to my level of education or have given HR instructions to bargain hunt and get someone for nothing.