Like it or not, I am still actively shopping in the job market.
At first, the prospects seemed as bountiful as the produce section: shiny in-house counsel roles stacked neatly in bushels; law firm positions packaged, polished and displayed with pride; and exotic secondment rolls just waiting to be sampled.
Now, however, this process is starting to feel like rummaging through the clearance bin—searching among the outdated, the toxic and the things that just don’t quite fit to find to find something perfect that can be kept for a long time. Corny, right?
As tiring as the interview process can be, I do have two main takeaways: (1) I get to meet a variety of interesting people in my field (and even become friends with a few) and (2) I get more material for my articles. Without further ado, here are three more interview horror stories.
Interview with an empty screen
About a month ago I interviewed with a telehealth company that provides mental health services — similar to a role I have had before.
During the third round of interviews, I joined the Zoom call only to find … nothing.
The Chief Operating Officer who was interviewing me told me he would be keeping his camera off but that I should keep mine on as I presented my responses to the assignment the company had sent me. To avoid staring at myself through the entire conversation, I quickly disabled the speaker view and locked the screen onto the COO, meaning that rather than stare at myself the entire time I spoke, I gave a presentation into an abyss with no video, no body language and no feedback.
While I did make it to the next round, I still wonder if the COO even heard me or what he actually thought about the things I had to say.
A fool
A recruiter for a pharmaceutical company reached out to me to schedule a first-round interview.
When the time came, she didn’t show up. I waited five minutes patiently, then five more anxiously. Finally, I decided to send her an email to ask whether she was still available to meet at the time she had set.
Her response? She had taken a long lunch with a friend and completely forgotten about our meeting. (In her own words, “I must have had too many margaritas!”)
Against my better judgment, we rescheduled the interview for another day, which she also didn’t show up to. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
After all, we’re family!
I don’t usually apply to jobs at law firms but I broke this habit to apply to a local firm looking for hybrid help with their health care and privacy practice groups — my exact area of expertise.
Surprisingly, I got asked to do two interviews—one with the managing administrator of the office and one with a key partner. During my interview with the partner, I was reminded why I don’t typically seek out law firm employment: it sounds miserable.
Although she said it with a smile, the partner talked about the expectations of the role, including the fact that there have been several nights where she and her team have slept on the floor in the office to get a project done because, “after all, we’re family!”
When talking about the hybrid nature of the role I was told “The position says hybrid but anyone with true initiative will be here in person every day.”
Late nights, early mornings and being on call in the event of an incident 24/7 are all part of the law firm culture — as is the high salary — but to put it bluntly, how can anyone live like this?
Although I made it to the next round of interviews, I politely declined.
As I continue on in my search, I’m hoping there is a great role out there for me: one where the human resources person shows up to the interview on time, there is a sense of connection during the interview process and one where you don’t stay so late at the office you have to sleep on the floor.
And so, I soldier on.
