Un-professionals, Vol. 1
Or, how not to handle unexpected issues coming up, during the hiring process.
This is so far my first post of this kind, and while I don't necessarily want this to become a series, I won't pass up the opportunity should it arise in the future. I'm not merely sharing this for selfish reasons either (in fact that's not even my primary motivation), but rather for the sake of anyone else like myself out there that might see this. This is a warning for fellow workers, that they may want to avoid this (VC startup?) company for now.
# Pretense
# The Job
So, I ran into this the way I find most jobs: job alert e-mails sent to me from LinkedIn. Every week I go through 20+ emails, applying to various jobs, and this one was like any other. What came across my feed was a posting for a Full Stack Engineer. I wasn't sure if I would qualify or not, but it seemed worth a shot since I met the requirements as grammatically posted (I've never programmed a REST API, but I've certainly worked with them, meaning I have experience). It was an Easy Apply too, meaning I just entered a few details on LinkedIn and the website took care of the rest. Say what you want about whether or not I should apply for such a position, that's besides the point of this post. Shortly after applying I received a direct message on LinkedIn from a member of the company (Neil Biafore, presumably the hiring manager), which read as follows:
Hi Matthew,
We reviewed your application for our Software Engineer position. We would like to schedule an interview with our hiring team.
The link to our calendar: https://calendly.com/qwikgroup/interview-round-one
Best,
NeilFor context, here is a link to our most recent news and our corporate page:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/qwikgroup_2024-was-an-impactful-year-for-tqg-marked-activity-7280367239684337664-g_6m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Make sure to like our most recent news if it seems like a fit
I reacted to the message with an emoji to signal my gratitude in the fast response (even though it was likely automated, but hey maybe not). I then clicked on the first link and scheduled the interview for January 7th at 1:10 PM. I did go check out the social post he had linked, but ultimately decided not to boost it, as I didn't think much of it (it didn't tell me much about the work and I figured if that was really something they cared about me doing before employment, that I was fine passing up the opportunity). It's also worth noting that this particular LinkedIn user cannot normally be messaged, or have his profile viewed - I was only able to do so since he messaged me first, otherwise we'd need to be "connected".
# The Company
Despite being an application I didn't expect to see much from initially, since I had already secured an interview I decided I would actually look into the company a bit, but I wasn't actually able to find much about them. It seems they're quite new, and to my eyes appear to be investor funded. Seems like they sold people on an idea, and are now trying to deliver. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it adds to the series of events. It seems they want to compete with Amazon's lockboxes, but instead of being locked to one company, they would provide safe delivery storage for any company that decides to work with them. Sounds neat actually, and helps me figure out what the job might look like since their job listing on LinkedIn was quite vague. I would likely have been working on the backend network that controls those delivery boxes, and also tracks information about them.
I prepared for the interview a bit, by looking into REST APIs a bit more, so that my knowledge wasn't just limited to using them, I wanted to know more of the theory behind it. They actually seem quite simple, and I considered adding a REST API to this very blog just so I could point to it, but ultimately decided not to for the time being. Regardless, the date approached, and I prepared for the interview. As is always the case, I joined the virtual meeting 10 minutes early (I have a security/privacy focused browser and like to make sure everything works far ahead of time). Everything worked fine, so I proceeded to sit there for the next 10 minutes until the time came. I waited a few minutes longer, but no one showed up. A bit confused, I checked my email and noticed they had actually sent me an email 1 hour before the interview informing me that the interview had been rescheduled to next week. Ah, well that's annoying, but things happen. The fact I hadn't seen the e-mail was my fault too, as I just hadn't been checking it much that day. The official reason given was that there weren't enough people/staff available to conduct the interview. Like I said, things happen, no big deal - move on with my day and get ready for the 14th.
# Go Time
So, a week later, I'm once again sitting at my desk 10 minutes before the interview (this time at 5:10 PM so its later in the day and I'm a bit more tired, but I still felt ready) with everything working fine. And, like an episode of the Twilight Zone, I sat there as the time came, waiting. One minute passes - another minute - a third. No one has joined the Zoom call yet. 5 minutes pass, and then 10. At some point I tried calling the phone number Zoom provides, just to see if the browser was acting up. Nothing. I refreshed my e-mail a few times, nothing new. I didn't really know what to do at this point. It was the end of the day, I had finished all my tasks, so I just sat there like an idiot for 30-40 minutes.
I started looking around LinkedIn. Most of the profiles associated with The Qwik Group were private so I couldn't message them without connecting. I went back to the fellow that messaged me (Neil), and simply said "Good evening Mr. Biafore. Are you available?" A few minutes later I messaged the one other public profile (Bob Wilson), and said "Good evening Mr. Wilson. Are you in any way involved in the hiring process at TQG?" I asked this since he was merely listed as a board member, so I didn't expect to get anything from him (and he never responded to me anyway). After that I also messaged the company page itself relaying the events in this article in a few sentences while continuing to assume the best intentions.
About 30 minutes after my "are you available" message, Neil got back to me simply with "Hi Matthew". So, I informed him:
I was scheduled to interview for the Full Stack Engineer position tonight (the one you first messaged me about), but no one showed up to the zoom meeting. Any idea what happened?
40 minutes later he responds with:
Ok. Lets plan a time for tomorrow and I will meet with you to give you an overview on the position
This was the point where I stopped giving the benefit of the doubt. I plainly explained that while I was willing to meet again (which was true), I would appreciate literally any explanation for what happened. The complete and utter lack of communication was surprising to me. I didn't even bring up his lack of apology on behalf of his company - not that I need one, but combined with everything else I think it gives enough cause for concern about the culture at this company.
What's worse is that he didn't even hold to his word. He never sent a follow up message, nor have I received any e-mails from TQG. I'm still willing to hear them out, but as it stands I have had no further communication from this company. I think workers should avoid any future job listings from them, and consumers might consider taking their business elsewhere.
# Final Thoughts
As this is my first time doing something of this manner, I lack experience and perhaps proper nuance and courtesy. If you feel I have handled the situation poorly anyway, I would love to hear from you, as I have no ill-intent with writing this. People make mistakes, mistakes can be forgiven - but forgiveness begins with acknowledging the wrong done.