Extremely disappointing recruitment process
Extremely disappointing recruitment process I had a very disappointing experience with the recruitment process at Carbon Standards International. I applied for the Project Manager Software Development position in May. The process was already very slow, with several months passing before I was contacted again in August. At that point, the company asked whether I was still interested and specifically asked whether I would be willing to move away from software development and focus entirely on Project Management. I confirmed that I was interested and explained why my technical background was relevant to the role. I was then invited to a first-round interview. After the interview, I received an email from the Chief Software Officer on September 1 saying: I had a “great first interview” the first interview round was concluded only a “hand full of applicants” remained the next step would be round two of interviews they expected to proceed as soon as possible I was therefore under the reasonable impression that I had progressed in the recruitment process and that a second interview was forthcoming. Instead, on September 15, I was informed that the company had decided to fill the position with an internal candidate. I completely understand that companies want to support internal career development. What I find difficult to understand is why external candidates were taken through interviews and progressed toward a second round if the company ultimately intended to fill the position internally. If an internal candidate was already a serious option, external candidates should have been given more transparency about the situation. If the internal decision was made only later, then the company should have communicated that change much sooner rather than keeping candidates waiting after telling them they had progressed. The biggest issue for me is therefore not the rejection itself. It is the lack of transparency and the amount of time candidates are expected to invest in a process that can apparently be redirected toward an internal candidate at the very end. The process took several months, involved repeated delays and follow-ups, and ultimately left me feeling that my time as a candidate was not valued.