Poor Candidate Experience: Long Review Consisted of two interviews. One was an initial phone interview- your typical screening with some basic job information/a nice snapshot of the position. Second was a panel interview more than a month later with three people on site and one over the phone....which I was not made aware of in advance and in a Hotel lobby. When I walked in, I was surprised to see four people at the table but walked up to introduce myself. No one acknowledged me there, that’s when I realized they were still in an interview with a gentleman which was awkward so I walked away and chatted with the desk clerk and made some coffee trying to stay at a distance for privacy reasons. I felt unprepared not knowing I was interviewing with more than one employee. Because I didn’t know their job titles/role beforehand, there were many questions and further discussion that was left out. Furthermore, during the panel interview, the interviewer over the phone hung up before the interview was over without excusing herself or even saying goodbye but did text one of the other interviewers in the room that she was good, which he repeated when we realized she was no longer on the phone. That made me feel like my time was not important; she had no further interest in hearing me. Very unprofessional. The interview itself felt very dated, which threw me off. It was more like I was being asked to sell myself (with questions pulled from a typical search of “most commonly asked interview questions”) instead of engaging in a conversation about the job and how I could provide solutions and services to job specific issues and projects. Then there was an issue with the job description. It specifically included recruitment, screening, interviewing, onboarding, training and pipeline management for example but during the phone screening I was told it’s really just employee relations then during the panel interview a high emphasis was placed on orientation . Very confusing. So two weeks later I received an email that I was not selected. So I emailed the person I had the initial contact with who set up the interview, who was also a participant in the panel interview and thanked her for her time and consideration but asked for feedback. At the end of the panel interview I specifically asked if there were any concerns with my experience/skills and if so, would discuss. All members said there were no concerns or any further questions. The rejection email said my resume would be kept on file and “may” be evaluated for future consideration - common generic message that was also included in the application confirmation email. Also included in the application confirmation email was that I would be contacted if my my background and experience meets Faith Technologies hiring needs yet the rejection email said I was rejected due to other candidates more closely fitting the company needs so again, one can see why I was seeking feedback. It has been three more weeks and not only did I not receive feedback, I was completely ignored. No acknowledgement of that email as of yet. I figured I’d wait a couple weeks at least before posting a review as I thought surely someone would at least acknowledge me even if unwilling to provide feedback. The Unemployment rate is not at 10% anymore. Finding qualified talent can be tough. Who’s to say, a candidate doesn’t go work somewhere else after not getting hired with your company, gains superb experience and knowledge, has many successful projects and implementations and eventually decides to pursue other job opportunities but doesn’t even bother searching Faith Technologies openings due to the very poor candidate experience they previously had. And then what happens when other qualified candidates read candidate experience reviews and decides to just keep looking elsewhere? Or would-be referrals go elsewhere? Candidate Experience is SO IMPORTANT. Don’t make candidates wait weeks for the next interview; it’s a good idea to properly prepare your candidates and attempt to provide a comfortable setting for interviews and don’t ignore them once you decide NOT to hire them (a simple feedback policy is all that’s needed). Any company should be happy and willing to provide feedback and shouldn’t be an issue if no unethical/illegal/discriminatory hiring decisions took place. I had the two yrs experience, BS in HR, three classes shy of MS in HR(not required) and recently SHRM Certified (not required) and the rejection reason didn’t align with the initial contact criteria, so again, was just seeking some feedback but for some reason was ignored.