Inconsiderate potential employers

I am once again searching for a job and I want to relate an experience I had recently with one potential employer that I will someday write up as an example of how not to screen employees. It was rude, inconsiderate and wasted my time and theirs.

I won't mention the type of employer or their location, but they were in the market for more than one person to beef up their Human Resources department. They had advertised in several sources (newspaper, internet, etc) and I had responded to an ad on the net and I got a form email saying that they had reviewed my resume and they were inviting me to a "interview screening" on a certain date/time. No human contact, no check to see if that date/time was workable for me, just a form letter that said if the time didn't work, to respond cancelling.

I showed up. The screening consisted of tests, four in all, two of which had nothing to do with human resource work whatsoever. One involved reading a 3 page business description for over 30 minutes, without being allowed to take notes that could be retained, and then being tested on the functions of that business, including complex calculations using formulas that were in the description that were not available on the test sheet. The other non-HR related test was a MENSA type intelligence test that was fairly easy for the most part although the last three questions required having taken calculus, trig and advanced geometry at some point in your life, again, none of which you use on a regular basis in the Human Resource field unless you are developing HR software (none of these positions were doing that).

So after finishing all of these tests, I was supposed to interview with someone, but that person wasn't available and so I found myself interviewing with the company's president instead. He said and I quote "I don't know anything about HR and so I don't know what to ask you, but I was the only one available to meet with you, so here we are. So why would you want to work here?" Before I could answer he had to take three phone calls and then halfway through the answer, someone came in to join us, the person I was to interview with. A few minutes later when I was in the middle of answering the president's second question, there was a conference call that the president had to take and that was the end of my interview. Then, to add insult to injury, the form letter telling me that they had elected to pursue employment with other candidates was in my email box before I could make the short drive home.

Now there is no way they could have possibly evaluated all of those tests they gave me, especially since the two on HR were essay type in response, so that email wasn't based on the testing. So, why bother putting me through all that testing if they weren't going to use it in the evaluation process? I suspect they realized after they had me there that I was overqualified for the opening that they had brought me in for, and that my desired pay range was outside of what they were willing to pay. But that is no excuse for wasting my time.

If you are going to make someone spend three hours filling out tests, at least take the time to grade and evaluate those tests and in your response to that person, let them know how they did on those tests, which you can do even if you are telling them you've chosen to go with another candidate. It might take a little effort, but it is the right and considerate thing to do.