Deja vu

Remember the interview I had? Remember I went to Corporate, they loved me, we clicked, I was scheduled for an interview in Lake Bluff, I went, thought it went well? Well, a few days went by and I heard nothing. I emailed my recruiter and continued to hear nothing.

The following week, a woman from my recruiter's office, a woman I knew, called to tell me my recruiter had been laid off. Now, I confess right here that after 8 months of getting nothing from my recruiter until now (save for a desperate attempt to get me to interview with a bully), I felt some schadenfreude, people. I really did. I was tempted to email her LinkedIn account and say, "How's it feel to be on the begging side? Let me know if I can lend you a coat, because it's COLD out here."

But Other Recruiter informed me that the managing partner from the prospective employer had called her to assure her that I was still in the running; they just needed to "sort a few things out" up in Lake Bluff. OK.

Another week went by, and I heard nothing. It was now another Monday and it had now been two weeks since the second interview. I went to craigslist to look at job postings, and what do I see, but the job posting. The one I'd interviewed for. Company name, and everything. I left a voicemail for Other Recruiter, explaining in that perhaps the delay in response was that they'd decided not to pay a recruiter's fee, given that I'd just seen a new positing on craigslist.

The kicker is, because I was introduced to them through the recruiter, I could not apply for the job directly. On the bright side, I don't want to work for people that behave this way. Oh, and the recruiter? Has yet to call me back. It's been about a month now.

I don't mind not getting the job; what I mind is being strung along without the common courtesy of a response. It's like the entire business world has taken on the Internet Dating Model: meet them, tell them you had a great time and want to do it again sometime, and then just ignore them and hope they take the hint. I don't understand how our economy is supposed to get better unless people grow some manners. It's a business climate of children.