Terrible Experience, Beware of Interviewing Here
TL:DR: The Company rushed through the interview process, then led me on for months as their top candidate only to then offer me a small contract role instead of the full-time role I interviewed for months prior.
The interview process seemed great at first, everyone was knowledgeable and easy to talk to. First met with HR, then with the hiring manager, followed by a meeting with the new COO. These were all Zoom interviews, and then, finally, I met with the team in person at the Wilsonville office. I had a great time speaking with everyone involved, and they seemed to share my enthusiasm.
Two days after meeting the team in person (12/5/24), I received a promising email from the hiring manager stating, "We are truly impressed and confident that you would be a perfect fit at TargetPath for this e-commerce role. We are finalizing some key client arrangements, and I want to be transparent with you about our timeline. While we are eager to move forward, we need to secure the final stages of a client project before we can officially extend an offer to you for this role. We deeply value the expertise and enthusiasm you bring and want to keep you updated on the process. With the upcoming holiday schedules, we anticipate having more clarity in the next 3-5 weeks and will plan to be in touch with you."
With the holidays coming up and their apparent continued enthusiasm, I patiently took the time to continue searching for potential alternative roles in the meantime while keeping the lines of communication open.
On 12/20/24, I received a follow-up message from HR stating they had made positive progress with a client they were trying to wrap up before presenting me with an offer. The email ended with, "I hope to come back to you with good news very soon."
Then, on 1/8/25 (about the 5-week mark from when I was told 3-5 weeks), I received an additional follow-up from the hiring manager stating that things were taking longer than expected and that they expected to hear back from their client in two weeks.
Then, on Friday 1/24/25 (2 days after the 2-week mark that was shared), I sent a follow-up asking for more clarity since no communication had been sent since the last time. This message received no response. I sent a second one on 1/27/25 - which received an auto-reply from the HR manager that she would be out of office from 1/24/25 until 2/7/25. I then sent a single email to just the hiring manager again asking for clarity. Then I received a response to my email to both by the hiring manager that stated, "We have had some traction with the potential client in getting them signed on, however we have had some contract negotiations with them as Q1 is their slowest quarter they wanted to adjust the priority level of a few of the projects. We are working on next steps and what the next 60-days of their project contract looks like. Once we get this solidified, we will absolutely be in touch. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you, this particular client is in a much more seasonally driven industry than many of the others so they are moving slower than we would like to kick things off with them. We hope to be in touch soon!"
I responded to this email by expressing my frustration with this drawn-out process and lack of any consistent communication. This allowed me to meet again with the hiring manager on 1/28/25 to talk through some of my concerns. I thought the conversation went well and we were on the same page about the role still being available, me being a top candidate, and that that would work on communicating updates more consistently. Fast-forward to 2/19/25, after no follow-up communication from this person after our conversation, I reached out again. The hiring manager told me they were out of town but that the team had what they needed to work on this process while they were gone. Then on 2/24/25 the HR rep emailed me echoing what the hiring manager said and asked me to meet with their new GM.
I met with the new GM for what felt like another interview on 2/26/25. We had a great conversation, and they emailed me the next week (on 3/11/25) stating as such. “I hope you're doing well! I wanted to send a quick update and say how much I enjoyed connecting with you the other week. As I’ve recently stepped into the GM role at TargetPath, I’m still finalizing some of our internal financial planning, which will help determine our next steps in the hiring process. The team and I truly appreciate your patience, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions in the meantime.”
After this interaction, I did not hear back from the team again until I reached out again on 3/25/25 looking for an additional update. At this point, the GM stated they wanted to connect to give me an update. After emailing them multiple times to set a time to meet we eventually met on 4/3/25 with the GM and hiring manager for this role. At this point, they told me that because things shifted on the business end this role is actually no longer available – but because they liked me, they wanted to still offer me contract work. They said they would send information over regarding that opportunity, but it was honestly a slap in the face at this point in the process. Additionally, as of writing this on 4/16/25 I have not received any further information regarding it.
I spent the last year unemployed from a layoff, going through thousands of applications, cover letters, and so many interviews and processes. I can say that hands down this has been the worst experience I've had in searching for a job. The communication has been atrocious, and I've felt like I have just been led on to believe there is some kind of role here when, clearly, this company did not know what they want or what they were doing when it came to this hiring process. I tried to be patient, I tried to be enthusiastic, and communicative, but I feel like I had been talking to a wall for most of this process and just taken advantage of during a time when the job market is so rough.
I would strongly caution anyone applying or interviewing here to take anything they say with a grain of salt and search for employment elsewhere, somewhere they will value your time and skills. If you value your time and work, don’t waste it here.
