This is a difficult review to write, and I intentionally waited quite some time before posting so that I could ensure both myself and the reader that I'm being as objective as possible. I was initially contacted by a SPARC recruiter. We had a great phone conversation and I was invited for an interview. The interview was strange to say the least. SPARC advertises how important people are to them. I came away feeling confused by this after my experience. Several things stood out to me. First, there are videos of SPARC recruiter presentations available online. The importance of LinkedIn and knowing those that are interviewing you are stressed. Using that information, I researched the folks that I knew would be interviewing me. Major awkward moment #1 - when I touched on a few topics with the interviewers and they asked me how I knew anything about their backgrounds, I told them I had looked up their LinkedIn profile. They actually made jokes about me being a stalker! So tip #1 to SPARC recruiters, share your LinkedIn philosophy with your teammates at SPARC so that interviewees don't have to be utterly embarrassed when they use the very advice YOU are giving! As the interview progressed it became clear that we probably weren't a good fit for each other. Tip #2 for SPARC, interviewing is a 2 way street and a skill that should be addressed on both sides of the table. The overwhelming majority of the questions I was asked had almost nothing to do with the advertised job requirements, the performance expectations of the position, or the discussion that I had already had with the recruiter. It was clear to me that the folks that were interviewing me had very little knowledge and experience with being on the hiring side of the interview. I'd recommend making "The Essential Guide to Hiring and Getting Hired" required reading for your hiring managers and those conducting interviews. Major awkward moment #2 - after spending about 5 hours at SPARC, it was pretty clear it just wasn't going to work out. Rather than end the interview process in a graceful and professional manner, the recruiter I was working with literally disappeared and avoided any and all contact with me, and the hiring manager that I had been talking with feigned a customer emergency and went running away in the building, leaving me standing alone pretty much clueless in the front entrance of the building. This to me was unprofessional, discourteous and downright rude to offer no closing whatsoever to the interview process that day. Tip #3 to SPARC, be professional and courteous towards others even when things didn't go as you had hoped. For a company that stresses the importance of people, they seriously dropped the ball here once things went south. SPARC does some great things, has some excellent people working for them and has an excellent reputation. They are definitely lacking in skill and experience when it comes to the interview and hiring process. I'm sure they will get better with time, and I hope so for the sake of others not having to go through what I did.