First, I will clarify that when I say "yes, but I declined" (an offer), it was not a job offer; it was an offer for the next step of the interview process. I asked to withdraw my candidacy, so I cannot say whether or not I would have gotten the job offer.
I will also say, I am not a smoker, but if you are, don't bother. I was asked three different times throughout the process if I smoked; the third time was by an actual human, rather than in writing, and he explained they don't hire smokers and they do RANDOM NICOTINE TESTING. That is some insanity right there, and regardless of the fact that I would have been safe, it makes me tremendously uncomfortable.
First, I applied online. I then received an email asking me to complete some online tests. The tests took several hours, asked bizarrely invasive questions, and were largely irrelevant to the skill set I would need for the alleged position. (We will come back to why I call it an alleged position.)
I submitted the online test, and later the same day received an email asking me to come in for an interview the following week. I was told to allot approximately two hours for the interview, and that cell phones were not permitted in the interview. I was also told business professional attire was highly recommended.
I went to the interview location, where the first thing they had me do was go into a room full of computers for another online assessment. Or should I say, to repeat the math section of the original online assessment; this was an hour-long process, and the position I was applying for had nothing to do with math. It wasn't that I had personally done poorly the first time, either; the room had several other candidates, and I was directed in there without the receptionist needing to check my current status or anything to see if I needed to retake it. They just make you do it twice.
At the end of this assessment, I had to fill out a bunch of personal information, much of which was a repeat. For example, I told them now for the second time what my minimum salary requirement would be.
After this test, I was put in a room to do a Skype interview with a recruiter at one of their other locations. He told me the position I applied for was actually filled "last week" - meaning at some point between when I applied (Monday of the previous week) and when I was asked to come in for an interview (4:55 p.m. Friday of the previous week), the job was filled, and nobody bothered to tell me.
He told me there was another position I might be a good fit for, and I figured after 3+ hours of ridiculous testing, getting dressed up, driving out here, etc., I may as well hear him out. Even though it was in a completely different department, with a completely different focus, etc. So we finished the Skype interview, and he said someone on-site would be coming in shortly to talk to me. At this point I had been there for about an hour and 45 minutes, so I figured someone would pop in within the next 5-10 minutes for a quick chat to make sure I knew how to make eye contact, shake hands, etc.
Instead, after 30 minutes, the receptionist came in to tell me someone would be with me soon.
5-10 minutes later, a guy who was way less dressed up than I was came in and took me upstairs for an interview.
20 or so minutes into this interview, he tells me the *minimum* salary requirement that I submitted *twice* before ever meeting with someone was several thousand dollars higher than the highest they could offer. Yet, not knowing how to exit gracefully, I finished answering his questions and even did a writing assessment before leaving. I was there for approximately four hours.
The next morning, I wrote a very long and detailed email to the recruiter with whom I had initially been emailing. I asked her to withdraw my application and broke down all of the above reasons for my dissatisfaction with the process and distrust for the company.
Yet, several days later, I received a phone call from some other recruiter, saying they were ready to schedule my next interview as the next step in the process. She left a voicemail message, which I did not bother returning.