Edward Jones interview questions

The interview process for me consisted of about 4 phone interviews with a corporate recruiter. The final phase of interviewing was the face-to-face interview in my area of the state. My face-to-face interview took place in Lexington, South Carolina. Typically, this area is known for not hiring african-americans to perform certain types of jobs. After I found out where I would be interviewing, I knew I wasn't going to get job. I was right.

My initial contact was through the online application porcess at the Edward Jones website. While answering the questions online there was an error which nullified my application and prevented me from continuing the process. About two months later I received a phone call from a represenatitive in their recruiting office asking if she could verify some of the answers I provided. After speaking with her for five minutes she realized they was an error in the submission and asked me to go back online and complete the questionaire again. I did so and received a phone call from another recruiting official about five days later asking me a few more questions in addition to why I was looking into Edward Jones. I informed her that I was retiring from the Military in nine months and wanted to pursue a career in the Financial Services Industry. I should point out that I also disclosed on the on-line application that I was more than six months from being able to start. At the conclusion of our conversation she stated she would like to have another employee from the hiring office call me the following week to further discuss the position and what opportunities Edward Jones might have for me. She sent me a large PDF file about Edward Jones, the Financial Advisor role, and the hiring process. For the next week, I spent a lot of time reading the material, researching Edward Jones and preparing myself for the interview. At the appointed time I received a phone call from the hiring specialist who began the conversation by asking my availability. I told her it was still nine months out, as I had previously stated and disclosed. She then informed that their hiring process was about sixty days and since I was so far out that she really couldn't discuss the possiblity of offering me a position. I was extremely taken aback and some what flabergasted. Why waste my time and theirs if I was too far out for serious conssderation? It made me feel as if I was a training aid rather than a true prospect. Not a great process.