The speed at which Avanade goes through the hiring process was admirable. Their HR and Recruitment team took the scheduling and management of the process seriously and enjoyable.
I had interviewed once before on the phone and in person and felt that everyone was engaged in the process and their work with the company, truly enjoying what they did and who they worked for/with.
This time around the recruiter was supportive and engaged as well and passed me along to the Resource Lead that this role would be supporting but not reporting to. It was this person where the entire process broke down and a number of serious flags came up for the role, the team, and possible the company, here are some examples:
Asked about daily duties: “We typically have lunch around 3pm (after starting around 8am). We are so busy we do not have time to eat 90% of the time. It’s really fast pace, things change on a dime. A lot of conference calls, as many as 9 a day, and got to do your work somewhere while being pinged by colleagues.” “We typically go 9-6, 9-5:30, and some days are busy and I (Resource Lead) have not had lunch yet (~4:30pm)”
Discussing workload concerns after hearing there's no time to take any breaks: "It’s a discussion to be had especially since I am alone in Canada it shouldn’t be as bad as it is where I’ve been going like this for close to a year...this role is to share the workload”
Asked about who the role is replacing: “The incumbent we hired did not work out because the pace was too fast and they left after two months.”
Asked about Workflow Improvement opportunities: “There is a process in place for Resourcing and the Sales Task Force will ignore it and slam in with a closed contract for 6 people to work on a project the next day.”
Asked about Work/Life Balance: “I don’t call in sick, I can’t...when (two people in Resourcing team) go on vacation we bring our laptops. We are looking for someone to jump in so we can go on vacation without our laptops. I am the only person in Canada for Resourcing and love working for Avanade because of the pace. It’s my personality and I did this with (previous emploer in Tech) with a typical 10-hour day without unplugging.
This last interview did not proceed to the next stage because I wanted to be able to work in a role that allowed me to stop around noon for a meal break. I made it very clear that a white-knuckled environment was unhealthy and could have lied and said what I had to in order to get the job, but that's wrong and I cannot understand how this role and team could condone that.
I was incredibly disappointed that someone who values time with their family and their health would be made to feel lesser than and hope this is not reflective of the entire company's culture and approach to employee well-being as the role was completely in line with my expertise and the previous interviews were so positive.
I hope you can see this situation as a learning opportunity to fix unhealthy parts of your work culture.