11 year vet here and here was my week of interviewing...

Discussion in 'Industry Veterans' started by Anonymous, Aug 6, 2011 at 1:39 PM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    1. Had a 2 hour interview, where the manager said he would call tomorrow, or HR, or his boss.
    No phone call from anyone yet. And the guy has not returned my follow up call.

    2. Another interview last week was not followed up with by the manager, after I got a "we will call you in the middle of next week (this week) to let you know your status". NO CALL.

    3. Another manager called on Monday and told me that he would call later this week, to schedule the next step. NO CALL.

    The purpose of this, is not to complain so much about my situation, but its to expose just how UNPROFESSIONAL this industry is.

    Managers that don't follow are jerks. Clueless. Classless. Lacking judgement.

    This week was just more proof that I need to move on, out of this industry.

    And one last thing, what can I possible learn from a pharmaceutical district manager? NOTHING!
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I couldn't agree with you more. It's a one-way street. Accountability stops with us.
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    15 year pharma vet here , am very familiar with this situation with a friend that was also layed off - bottom line is that she was being blown off just as you were and decided to call the hiring manager and show her aggressive side and tell the hiring manager that they were making a huge mistake not hiring her and here is why... you may want to try the aggressive angle and see if it works .. it did for her and she is now hired with the company
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    This is sooooo common! No courtesy. One day those people who do not return calls will find themselves on that side.
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I hear you guys.
    Let me add to this the de-humanizing interviews that seem to try and trip you up, versus discussing what your abilities for the company would actually be.
    Also, the jerk-off recruiters who just a few years ago would be calling frequently with enticements to leave your current job. Now they don't even return your calls.
    This industry has been decimated! Sadly, I can't think of any other careers to transition to.
    If you folks have any ideas please submit them.
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Larry Page, CEO of Google always says the same thing to a candidate during the interview: "I'm going to leave the room for five minutes; when I return I want you to tell me something about what you can do for my company that I haven't already thought about".

    Pretty straightforward, IMO. If you can do the same thing to impress your interviewer you'll be ahead of the others.
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I hate to break it to you guys but this is not unique to pharma. I’ve worked in HR for 15 years in a variety of industries and this would happen all the time. It doesn’t make it right or professional but this is in no way isolated to pharma. I worked in financial services/banking and they would make jokes about how they would blow off poor candidates or string them along if they were particularly gullible. Again it’s not right but it is out there in just about every industry. We try hard to coach our hiring managers on the courtesy of following up but unless you were a very close ‘second’ they usually don’t care about the follow up. Frustrating and unprofessional I know but it happens everywhere.
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    The last post was very interesting from the person who claims to be in HR. I am a hiring manager and I will tell you the reason you do not get follow up phone calls. HR WILL NOT LET US MAKE THE CALLS. Why not? They are afraid that a hiring manager may say something to incriminate the company and lead to a lawsuit i.e. the candidate asks for feedback as to why they didn't get the job and the hiring manager responds that it was given to a person with more experience in the industry. The candidate then discovers that infact the job was given to a young fresh out of college student - oops - unless the hiring manager has a great reason for hiring this person there could be trouble ahead if the candidate who was turned down was over 40, female etc.

    I re-read the original posters comments who mentions that he was told that 'they' would call him back. When a hiring manager says that, they mean someone from the company or recruiting company will make the call. Unfortunately, I have had many instances where I will get several phone calls from potential candidates asking what is going on and it is only when I specifically request that HR makes the call do they follow through.

    I am absolutely sure that there are also lazy unsympathetic managers out there who say that they will call and then do not. These individuals have no business leading anyone. Regardless of whether or not they are able to make the call (based on the individual companies policies) to say that you will and then to not follow through shows the utmost disrespect. You probably do not want to work for this indivdual anyway.

    Bottom line. Accept that if you do not hear any communication within a week of an interview, it's a fair bet that you were not successful and move on. I say this as a manager who is also in the interviewing process after being laid off so please know that I feel your pain.
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    This post is spot on. I am also a DM and can tell you that HR dictates what we can say and do. Pharma is now run by PC single minded dolts in HR that only do the right thing when it happens to coincide with their own personal agendas. As a DM we have a near impossible job and I feel half of my time is spent trying to not have one of my good reps fired by a HR hack due to a technicality. I know for a fact that there are many in HR that actually get enjoyment out of exercising what they perceive as power and firing someone for making an honest error. Sad that the industry has become one all about back stabbing and self-serving PC bullshit, but it has.
     
  10. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    That’s interesting and it shows how much variation there is from company to company. I’ve been an oncology DM for 10 years and I call every person back that I interview and don’t hire. That is our mandate from HR and our VP of Sales. We can get dinged for lack of follow up from our Director of Sales if interview candidates are not kept in the loop and communicated with in a timely and professional manner. It will absolutely show up on your performance review if HR had to field a lot of inquiries from interviewed candidates wondering where they are in the process. HR does “coach” us to not give reasons of why we chose another candidate just that simply that we did. Basically the ‘script’ one the phone is, “we appreciate your interest in our company but we have chosen to move forward with another candidate. If they ask why or what ‘notes’ we have we simply say, “Unfortunately, we do not provide notes or feedback on the interviews we conduct but please check the website for future opportunities. It is brief and simple and generally takes less than a minute or two. It seems like your HR departments do not trust you or are micromanaging the heck out of a simple phone call. As you know you are far more likely to say or ask something in the actual interview that could get you into trouble versus telling someone they are not moving forward in the process. If they don’t trust you do break the news to someone why would they trust you to interview people in the first place? If that’s the case an HR person should either conduct all the interviews or be present whenever you interview someone. Very interesting nonetheless.
     
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I think a specialty company and division has a little more flexibility from a HR standpoint. It is a shame the industry has evovled into a PC stance in hiring, but the fear of litigation turns the entire process into a sterile path.