I had a first screen with a sourcing recruiter who advanced me to a virtual onsite with 3 people. To set up for that I spoke to another recruiter who also laid out the comp structure. I explained to her that would not meet my expectations and she said they may need to reschedule so I can be considered for another level. This prep was on a Friday and the interview was the following Monday so she said will let me know by end of day. I never heard back so I proceeded with the interview. Two of the three did a great job probing my skills but one of them was completely disassociated and in fact I was able to see that he was actually texting on his phone. They happen to have a great video system that zooms in and out so it was very clear he was texting as the camera zoomed close enough to see. At first I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt that maybe his computer was not working and he was taking some notes on his phone but then he switched over to his notebook to take a quick note on something I said. The recruiter had explained that I would hear back by the following Friday and since I heard nothing I followed up. She explained that they debriefed but needed to again because someone was out and now I had to wait another whole week. When I didn’t hear back, I followed up again to hear that they will consider me for other roles that are opening. My time was wasted because the first recruiter did not collect my salary expectations and align me to the right role.

I was surprised at how casually a team of recruiters took an interview with a fellow recruiter. Given that I did not receive an offer, I suspect the decision to not move forward was made early because my interviewers showed a very clear lack of interest in what I had to say. One even spent most of the interview sending messages on his phone.