(Applied through Beacon Hill Staffing. Went in for an interview with a recruiter there, then was suggested for an interview with the company. Sat with editor and 4 associates) When I interviewed for this job, I received an offer a couple days later. They stressed that they needed somebody to start immediately, and asked me to give only one week's notice to my employer so I could start the following Monday. The second I got the call, I asked the staffer to confirm whether this was a temp or temp to hire job (as it was advertised). She contacted the Account Executive with AAAS to clarify the terms of the position. The Account Exec said, and I quote, "temporary is fine, we are brining on four people at a time and we don't know if we'll even be able to convert all of them to salaried employees in 5-6 months." On those terms, I accepted the position and resigned with 1 weeks notice from my paid internship. One business day before I was about to start, the terms were changed and they said they needed a verbal 1 year commitment to the company. Nervous, I accepted saying that if I loved the job, I'd of course stay. My start day was moved back 4 times due to what HR claimed was that they didn't have enough time to prepare for my first day. By Thursday, there was still no start day. Then, the recruiter called me saying that the Editor (woman I interviewed with), wanted to meet with me and clarify "her side of the story" and discuss the temp vs. temp to hire/year commitment situation. Somewhere between the BH Staffer, the HR Representative for AAAS, the Account Executive, and the Editor, the Editor was told that I declined the offer and apparently (although I'm not sure how this is possible if she was under the impression I declined) rescinded my offer the day I got the call about the change in terms of the position. I have emails from the staffer at Beacon Hill, in communication with the HR team at AAAS, lying and claiming that my first day was moved back because they had to prepare for my first day and needed a little more time due to inclement weather, when in truth the HR team knew that the Editor had rescinded her offer and did not communicate that to me in any way, shape, or form. I went into this meeting with the Editor unsure of what was going on. The Editor claimed that she disliked the way I "declined their offer," and that it was indicative of my attitude toward this role , that I was inexperienced, and pulled me into a conference room with the 5 people I interviewed with--apparently ready to question me about my naive rejection of their offer--before she could let me explain. She reiterated her words to the team, and then said that that was why she rescinded her offer. Please note: I had no idea that any offer was rescinded and I never, at any point, declined an offer. The Editor never asked me for clarification before I was pulled into a conference room and basically insulted in front of 5 people. Through tears, I had to explain that their HR had been lying to me and her the entire week and I was unaware of the truth of the situation. Nobody in the room knew that HR was saying this to me, and apparently had no idea what I really said weeks earlier. They offered no apology, except a promise to "speak with HR," but the mood changed as I needed a minute to collect myself after the Editor of a journal insinuating that I had a bad attitude and was flippant about my career. Then she turned it over to her team and had a woman who wasn't in my initial interview essentially re-interview me. They told the recruiter that the meeting went great, and they offered me the job shortly after via email. For obvious reasons, I declined. While there was a major amount of miscommunication, and frankly dishonesty in house at AAAS HR, I am still at a loss for why the Editor, under the impression that I declined an offer, one which she rescinded (still not sure how that made sense to them), called me in for a meeting. To lecture me? To tell me what I did wrong? There was no mention of reconsidering my offer or knowledge that there had been miscommunication, she only spoke about my "decline" and her rescinding the offer (based on misinformation). While I was able to highlight the error, I could not work for people that couldn't even offer an apology or an explanation as that is, no doubt, reflective of their company culture.