I was contacted by a Thomson Reuters recruiter on LinkedIn. I was surprised that he thought I would be a good fit for the role he shared with me, since my background didn’t match the role requirements and the location wasn’t what I had specified in my profile, but upon confirming via email that the role is actually based in my metro area, we scheduled a call. This was the most ridiculous HR phone screen I had ever been a part of. It turns out that the job description I was sent was not the one I was scouted out for – the recruiter had sent me the wrong description (even though I had emailed him prior to the call to clarify some things on it). I wanted to learn about the role he originally thought I’d be a good fit for, but unfortunately he did not have any information on the role except for a one-sentence description, which he kept repeating as an answer to all the questions I asked while trying to get a better grasp of what they are looking for. I was able to somehow get it out of him that the role was in marketing - which is pretty broad. From here on, this call just turned into even more of a farce – I was told they are looking for someone analytical but also with a creative background. When I wanted to clarify if they are looking for an analyst to work with marketing data or a creative person to design marketing materials, he responded that it’s both! This seemed odd to me so I asked some more questions and he told me that my questions just mean that I don’t understand the role and hence am not a good fit. HA! At this point I tried to salvage the call, since he seemed to be really struggling and I really just wanted to see if there’s a role for me a Thomson Reuters, so I suggested that perhaps a call with the hiring manager would be a good idea so that I can actually see what they are looking for. He said he’d check and get back to me within a week. I was not surprised to not hear back. But I followed up with two emails and eventually heard back that there are no roles that fit my background. I was really surprised by this whole experience, given that the recruiter had been at Thomson Reuters for a few years and this was not his first job. In retrospect, it’s funny and amusing and a story to tell, but clearly doesn’t reflect well on Thomson Reuters.