I've been looking for work for a little while now. I do some art and occasionally even sell some of it, but I need to have a more reliable income to pay the bills. A well known (worldwide) artist lives in our city and recently posted a job opening for a production artist. I sent in a resume and almost immediately got a call from the production manager, who chatted with me for about 20 minutes and then invited me for an interview for the next morning. While I'm familiar with this artist and the gallery, I started doing a little more research at that point and realized both the artist and the production manager are mormon. Obvious from the FB profile of the production manager--not so obvious from the artist's biography--but once the connection is made the conclusion is undeniable.
All of that would have been fine. I've worked with and for mormons before and can usually deal with their workplace bullshit in a straightforward way. And I was actually looking forward to the interview and seeing some of their operation. And the job would have been a great opportunity to learn more about production art and licensing, etc.
But I got an email about two hours after the phone call saying, "Oops! Sorry, We just hired someone else. Hope we haven't inconvenienced you."
Seriously? Who schedules interviews and then doesn't go through with them? Even when I have been sure who I wanted to hire I always held interviews. It was probably a mormon they knew that got hired.
And why the hell am I so disappointed about NOT working for a fucking mormon, anyway? That's probably the real issue here.

Looking for work can be frustrating. Sorry about the setback.

Welcome to reality of mormonism. They look out for their own. Even though you are the better canidate on paper.

they just blew me off completely. At least they TOLD you it was cancelled!

"Even when I have been sure who I wanted to hire I always held interviews."

Would you really have wanted to go through an interview if it was just a sham, if they had already decided on another candidate? I think under the circumstances that cancelling your interview was the kinder thing to do rather than getting your hopes up for nothing.

On the other hand, if they had merely been 90% certain that they had already chosen a candidate, going through with your interview would have been the smart choice for them--just in case you impressed them more than the person they thought they wanted.

Frustrating! But to play "The Glad Game," it could have been worse. You might have gotten the job, and it could have been hell!

Yeah, this isn't a Mormon thing. My own company has done it when a requisition gets pulled midway through the interview process, or when we have to move quickly on a candidate we really want.

They called you and were honest about the interview being canceled. I don't really see a big deal here.

I'm so sorry. I know what it's like to lose an art-related job that you really want. Decent jobs in the field seem so rare and precious.

I hope that the stars align for you another day.

Thanks all. It's not the first frustration in this job search, and I'm sure it won't be the last. And no, it's not a big deal. It's just just maddening to have the opportunity to learn from a successful artist turn into nothing in the space of a couple of hours.

Because it probably had less to do with mormons, and more to do with professionalism... which seems to lack in mormons.

I've been through enough job interviews to know that the only thing you can expect is the unexpected. I've had interviews I thought I bombed where they made me an offer. I've had interviews where I thought they loved me and I was greeted with "Thanks, but good luck to you!"

I've had 3 interviews including the President of the company, who seemed to love me, and then get an email explaining that I did not meet their basic qualifications. Then why 1 interview, let alone 3?

I've had interviews where the guy interviewing me got the job.

I've had interviews where they didn't bother to tell me I didn't get the job. I just saw it reposted on the job board the next week and had to call them myself to find out they liked none of us.

I had one guy who was such an ass in the interview that I refused to send him a thank you. Before he would have even gotten it, he sent me a note saying that he "spoke to several candidates who were far more qualified" than me. While I'm sure he could have found someone better than me, I seriously doubt I was that far down the list.

In short, you can never tell how nice or how awful people are going to be. I've learned that if they are not pleasant in the interview, you don't want the job. Consider this a lucky break and that you dodged a bullet. Better to keep looking than to have a bad job turn sour on you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2013 11:36PM by axeldc.