This was a phone interview with the Dallas office of Staffing Technologies for a position in another state. The recruiter, a very nice and professional young man, had initially contacted me a few weeks earlier about the position, but for various reasons, I decided to withdraw my consideration for the contract role. The agency must have had a difficult time filling the position, because the recruiter contacted me again, saying that the position had changed, and asked me if I would reconsider. I said "yes" and we set up a time to speak by phone, however he told me that another staff member, a woman with a leadership job title in their sales department, would be present on the call. During the call, the sales woman told me that she had a close friendship with the woman that I would be reporting to at the company site, located in my city. She then pulled a "bait-and-switch" and told me that the role had been reverted back to the old position that I had already turned down two weeks earlier, and that there were no changes made to the role prior to our call. She then proceeded to berate me and my experience, including criticizing me for having a short-term job, despite that I explained it was a situation that was outside of my control. I was very truthful and honest throughout the entire conversation. However, what was supposed to be an interview quickly became an interrogation session by this sales woman with Staffing Technologies. Ironically, when I looked at her profile, I saw a very short-term job in her background, so I am not sure why she had a problem, as short-term jobs have become common in the corporate world and companies' needs change all the time. The whole call was very demeaning and I regret not ending the phone call earlier, but I wanted to remain professional and not stoop to her level. She has a psychology degree, so perhaps this was her way of testing me to try to break me. In my 25 years of experience in the workforce, I have worked with a lot of recruiters and staffing agencies, but I have never experienced this kind of treatment before.
