I applied through a recruiter.

This was the most unprofessional interview experience I’ve had in my life. The whole process was full of repeated failures by multiple people involved.

First I got contacted by a recruiter (#1) two years ago for a high profile leadership role. Then I got totally ghosted in the middle of the process. I sent 3-4 follow-up emails with zero responses. Then another recruiter (#2) sent me an apology email, saying they had an update for me and we should chat on Wednesday. They, once again, never responded to any of my follow-up emails afterwards.

Two years passed, and I got contacted once again by #1. This time I said the specific role seems underscoped for me and I wouldn’t like to waste anybody’s time, so I’ll pass. The recruiter said they’d have an internal chat to see if the scope is flexible and can be broadened to better match my expectations.

A while later the recruiter came back saying that this is possible, and scheduled a chat with someone whose only first name was shared with me. I found this strange and asked if they can share the last name so I can learn more about this person by checking their LinkedIn profile and prepare for the chat. They (#3) didn’t share the last name and said this was company policy. I couldn’t think of any reason why this could be necessary, but it’s alright I thought. I asked for some more information on what kind of chat this would be, so I could prepare accordingly. Once again, no response.

When the interview time came, I dialled in expecting we’d discuss how to broaden the role/scope for me. My interviewer said they had no context of any of this and they came here to interview me for the role advertised. I told them I didn’t want to waste their time and there’s no need to do this interview if the role/scope won’t change from what’s advertised. They said they already had given the same feedback to the recruiter that I wasn’t a good fit for this role but the recruiter said to them I was still keen on the role to set up this call. In the meantime the same recruiter told me the hiring manager was going to expand the role for me without discussing any of this with them.

Overall this has been an absolutely underwhelming experience for a well-respected company such as Apple.

Typical management stuff every company asks