One of the joys of job boards is that recruiters are consistently scanning them for job seekers to fill positions. I don’t necessarily mind a recruiter calling me out of the blue and asking if I am interested in a position that they have available. If I’m not interested, I’ll tell them straight out but let them know what I am looking for and if they have something, then they can feel free to call me again.

So I got a call from a recruiter that had my resume and described a sales position for a technology services company. I had never heard of the company which is understandable but I didn’t really understand the technology either or what type of position they had open. I spoke to the recruiter for a few minutes and he gave me all the background he had and wanted to know if I was interested. I still had some reservations, but I was interested enough to take the call so I had them set up a phone interview with the company for Friday afternoon.

The hiring manager called me on time and started talking about the company he worked for and asked me what type of job I was looking for. I explained I was interested in an Account Manager role but was very interested in the open Sales Manager position the recruiter mentioned and wanted to know more about that. The hiring manager told me he would have to go into a conference room to talk with me and would call me right back.
‘First red flag’
A couple of minutes later my cell phone rang again and it was the hiring manager apologizing for having to change rooms. He started what seemed to me like a scripted ’sales pitch’ on his company as if I were a customer. He never paused and just kept on talking for 15 minutes. I swear I could hear him turning pages every few minutes too. Once I had a chance, I interrupted him and explained I was not looking to be “sold” on the company. I needed to know some key information about the position that he was looking to fill and some other things and I would make the decision on if I was interested enough to meet at his office.


He explained that he was getting to that information but I should just “hear him out.” He danced around my initial questions with extremely vague answers that made me wonder if he even knew what he was talking about. The guy never missed a beat and kept talking for another 30 minutes about absolutely nothing I was interested in. He was more interested in “selling me the dream job” He wouldn’t stop talking and I couldn’t get a word in at all. All I got out of his 45 minute pitch was that I would be working for a “technology company that sold ideas to customers” and would be expected to work from “some office location in the area” and “This would be a hard sale and you’ll have little resources”. He said all of these things!

‘Second red flag’

Sounds like another boiler room to me. Been there done that and other than taking the experiences to build me up to who I am now, I am not interested in that at all.

After the last part of his pitch (Which it really was.) He went in for the close and asked if “I was excited enough to start the position on Monday.” Uhhh…no. I explained that I wasn’t making any decisions until after next week but I didn’t think this was a great fit either way.

This is where it got interesting.

He started sounding agitated, but it was a phone call and I couldn’t be sure if I was misinterpreting his tone. He started giving me rebuttals and explained that if I started on Monday there was a ‘bonus’ I would receive. “Are you interested now?” he asked. I couldn’t figure out this guy’s angle. How am I expected to start a job, not knowing how I get paid or even what I’ll be doing. Most of all he didn’t ask me ANY questions about my experiences or job history. (Granted he had my resume but I’ve never interviewed a person or been interviewed where some questions aren’t asked about past jobs.)

‘Third red flag’

I figured something was up. I explained to the guy that I had been on the phone for 45 minutes and he had not answered ANY of my questions and still had not explained the job description very well at all. I thanked him for his time and said “I just don’t think I am the guy your looking for.”

“Wait, you lost me. What doesn’t sound good about this great opportunity?”

I answered. “Sorry, you lost me.”

Now I could tell he was upset. No misinterpretation here. He started yelling at me. Can you imagine!?!

He was still yelling when he slammed down the phone and ended the call.

-So that goes into the file of “the worst interview ever”. I don’t know what some companies are thinking sometimes. I still don’t know if the position was legit or some scam. Nothing made sense and I am left with more questions than answers. Oh well. Move on to the next one.

3 days 18 hours to go. I can do it.