Part 1
In June 2012 I responded to a design job advertised through Randstad.
The recruiter contacted me, said I looked like the perfect candidate, and told
me the client, VCE, is requiring that candidates complete a "design
test." At this stage I had not yet become jaded and cynical about the
American job market and actually thought this was a stepping stone to an
interview and then being hired. I now know this is just their way of getting
free work. He sent me the "test" which consisted of an existing
graphic and some very vague directions. Design does not consist of trying to
guess or read people's minds, it requires a good deal of back-and-forth
communication (questions/answers). Here is the email I sent to the recruiter:
I'm having a problem here because they've done a very poor job of
explaining the existing graphic, and the two sentences preceding it tell me
nothing about what this graphic is trying to convey. For instance...
• I know the first sentence
says the blocks are interrelated, but a hierarchy being depicted as well? or
are the three components all on the same level?
• Do the colors mean anything?
Because the outer Security and Compliance level is the same color as the Tenant
Mgt and Service Assurance boxes...
• What is being conveyed with
the Service Assurance box overlaying the aqua and purple boxes? Is it somehow
being "protected" by the aqua and purple? or does it share resources
with them?
• Why is the Tenant Mgt box
aligned to the bottom of the green box? Does it interact with the aqua box
below it in some way?
He responded back with "nope, sorry, you can't ask
questions!" So, I did my best to guess what the heck they wanted and sent
it off. Never heard from him again.
Part 2
Here’s an even more awesome story, going back to December 2013 when they
advertised a PPT/presentation design job. I applied directly (I had completely forgotten
about what had happened in June 2012) and immediately was contacted by their recruiter.
We had a phone interview which went well and I sent her loads of PPT samples to
forward to the hiring manager. She emailed back the next day, “Good news the
Hiring Manager would like to meet you in person next Thursday the 19th, are you
available? Please call me when you get this email. Congratulations on the next
step!” We arranged a day/time, and she confirmed in a final email along with
the following little note, “Please visit www.vce.com to learn more about our
company and be prepared! Also I believe it is always great to have a few
questions for the manager!” Okay, that was a bit condescending/offensive, but
whatever...
I won’t bother explaining what happened on the “interview” (which, once
again, was nearly a ninety-minute drive each way from my home) but instead I’ll just share
the email I sent to the recruiter a few weeks later with my observations (of
course, I never received a response):
As you may recall, I interviewed for this position back on 12/19.
Before I put this in the past and move on I wanted to share a few observations.
The presentation design samples I provided via the download link were
essential to the interview being successful. Imagine my shock when I referenced
them and Mr. [Name]’s response was, "No, sorry, I didn't get a chance to
look at those." In addition to not looking at any of my work, he did not
bring any samples of the work being produced -- neither via a laptop or mobile
device, nor simple printouts. I realize now that at this point I should have
ended the interview and walked out.
The second meeting with Ms. [Name] went in an identical fashion. When I
asked if she looked at the samples I provided, she said, "No, sorry, I
didn't get a chance to look at those." She also admitted that she did not
even bother to look at my online portfolio. She then attempted to describe and
sketch a slide design that was done, which again made me wonder why she did not
bring a printout of this.
When Mr. [Name] returned for a wrap-up, he asked if I'm capable of
working with senior-level executives (a rather offensive question). I responded
that if he would take the time to visit my LinkedIn profile he'd see many
recommendations from senior VPs from Fidelity Investments, including one very
strong review.
He then asked me if I have any questions, to which I explained that he
really hasn't shown me anything relevant and he hasn't looked at my material,
hence asking questions is rather impossible at this point. He suggested I look
at the VCE website, and I responded that I did indeed look throughout the site
for a sample presentation but could only find whitepapers. He said, "Yeah,
there's nothing there, I'll see if I can find a few samples to send you."
Of course, I never received any samples and my LinkedIn profile has not
received any new views.
In summary, this "interview" was a complete waste of time,
based on the incredible amount of disinterest these two people exhibited in
learning about my background. Interviewing is a two-way street. Just as it is
my responsibility to learn about the company and ask questions (which I did),
it is the responsibility of the hiring party to do their own research into the
candidate, which in this case would have included reviewing the sample files I
provided and my online portfolio. The fact that these two people did nothing
beyond reading my resume tells me that either (a) the job never existed, (b)
they had already chosen a candidate and this interview was just done to satisfy
a quota, or (c) they just don't care about finding the best candidate.
If the answer is (a) or (b), you may want to be a bit more careful in
the future, as not everyone is as forgiving as I am about having a morning and
several gallons of gas wasted. If it's (c), then this corporation has certainly
earned its bad reviews on Glassdoor...
In regards to the Glassdoor reference, their rating at the time was a
dismal 1.7 with one negative comment after another. It has since skyrocketed to
3.4; this observation is shared by the negative reviewers who comment that the company is goading employees to post fake glowing reviews.