Pros
As for my overall takeaway, I genuinely struggled to identify any positives from this experience. From my perspective, the negatives significantly outweighed any benefits.
Cons
I’ll be direct: from a candidate’s perspective, this experience is unacceptable and should serve as a warning to anyone considering joining.
Someone in my network accepted a role with this company after nearly a month of approvals. They joined motivated, were quickly placed on a client engagement, and received their equipment.
Their first month looked like this:
* Week one: onboarding—learning systems and meeting people.
* Week two: largely spent on interstate travel for a company event.
* That left about two weeks of actual work before they were let go during probation.
They were told they hadn’t met expectations, yet those expectations were never clearly communicated, nor was there any indication of what metrics or criteria were being used to assess their performance. There was no feedback, no warning, and no opportunity to course-correct—the decision came completely out of the blue.
This raises serious concerns:
* Two to three weeks of real work is not a fair or meaningful window to assess capability, especially when onboarding and events consume a significant portion of that time.
* If assessment and termination can happen this quickly, it must be clearly stated during recruitment so candidates can make informed decisions.
* Ending employment without feedback, defined metrics, or a chance to improve reflects poorly on management and internal processes.
* The lack of transparency disregards the impact on a person’s confidence, wellbeing, and financial stability.
Probation should be a two-way process, not a trapdoor. It should allow both sides to assess fit, not judge someone without telling them where they stand or how they are being evaluated.
From the outside, this looks less like a performance issue and more like a failure in communication, expectation-setting, and professionalism. Candidates should approach with caution, as this approach to probation signals deeper issues that need serious reflection and improvement.