Phone interviews

Over the summer I had several interviews - mostly with headhunter agencies looking for candidates to place in corporate contract positions.  Each one of these headhunters has told me how perfect I am for the job posting; how absolutely perfectly my experience and skill sets match the requirements for the position.

Four times now I have been grilled and phone-prodded.  Twice thereafter I have been invited to meet the interviewer in person to continue the interview process, and to fill out their hiring/work forms. 

In all four cases I have never been disappointed with their atrocious or non-existent follow-thru.  In one case I have had nothing but lip service and vague promises of next steps, with no further action or contact after the initial phone conversation.  The few times we did speak, it was to his claims of "I am going to hand your resume to my associate on Monday, he will be your go-to."  Or - "My son, with the phys-ed scholarship, has suffered a muscle tear, and my car is in the shop after and accident and I have a cold....but I will get back with you and hand your resume to my associate."  That then became "Call me on Monday after I have had a chance to visit my client and I will have more to tell you."

Of course when I did call him again on Monday, at the assigned time, he did not answer, and I ended up leaving a voice message.

And no....he has never phoned back.

What am I to take away from that message?  Why not just tell me what the issue is (if there is one) and then have nothing more to do with me?  Why leave me hanging to be chased down by my persistent phone calls and emails?

Am I just supposed to give up and vanish?  Do you think you can ride out my barrage of contact attempts until I do nothing more?  Oh no, my friend, it ain't gonna happen.  I am not going to stop playing my fiddle until you change the tune.

A number of times the story goes: "The position for which we were recruiting has been filled internally.  But don't worry, we are still going to find you something - there's work out there."

Ri-i-i-i-ght.

I'm not worried - I'm disappointed.

Phone interviews are great until they're not.  And let me tell you - you employing types - your interviews (for the most part) are triffling crap.