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Weird interview....... Anyone have one like this?


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So I had a formal interview yesterday from a cold call email where, after seeing an ad for a different clinical provider, I had reached out to see if they needed a PA. The company was very large in terms of provider number. The area and field was great, benefits on point, but the interview took a weird turn....

 

...When several other people with their corporation were invited to enter my interview....

 

I immediately had the sense that something was up and I was about to get ganged up on - and my intuition rarely ever proves wrong....

 

But the group seemed to keep directing me to a position that wasn't the standard clinical position and even started talking about me in the third person while seated beside me - saying things like "That job is closer to her home," and "I'd like that over the other one" bit and were really trying to sell it to me. Unfortunately, it wasn't something I was interested in, and I had great difficulty bringing the conversation back to the original position I had inquired about......

 

I was polite and said, quite frankly, that I wasn't expecting something so unique and I needed time to think about the position they were so enthused about - no lie, it sounded like a good position and did a decent service to the community, but I wasn't sure it was for me. There were alot of considerations I would need to make about the logistics of the position and my own home life. Not to mention the fact that they had so oddly decided that where I currently live was a factor (I felt a bit offended), and I didn't bother to correct them with the fact that the reason I reached out was the original posted position was in an area that I had planned on relocating my home nearer to....

 

When I finally got the interview back to the original position I was interested in, it felt like they were tight-lipped. I could tell they wanted to underpay me by the way they were talking about patient load and they were giving examples of different providers.... no actual amount was discussed, but it sounded like it was all pay based on productivity.

 

But then things got WEIRDER when they FINALLY got around to asking me about my qualifications....

The main person asked me - "What are your strengths in practice?" - I had to ask her to elaborate because it seemed a vague question. Did she mean my personal strengths? Did she mean patient based?

She says, "No. I mean, which do you treat better? Acute or Chronic conditions?"
.... Erm... excuse me? LOL! My basic answer was: I treat them equally well - having been trained well in various disciplines and all in areas similar to where the job was located, I basically said I treated them all because I was trained to and even listed things I had done. I'm like - I work in a medical field. I am a provider. This is what I do......

That was the ONLY question I was asked!!!

 

The group is fairly large and only 1% are PAs. (And I'm being a bit vague in case those PAs or other providers are on here.) So I knew I was in for it, but was hoping that because they did so many awesome things and I wanted to be a part of what they did..... I was seriously excited about this interview.

 

At the very end of the interview, the other person added pressure about the other position they were trying to sell to me..... "We can't keep it open. Is it something you're interested in?"

Well, I don't like feeling pressured to do something after already being polite about it - So I said, politely, that, no, I was looking for a more traditional clinic position. Oh, their faces!

 

I felt like I had been tricked into coming in for the interview because they wanted to fill this position.

I left it feeling quite blindsided.

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Have you interviewed in many places?

 

I can fill a book with the amount of bizarre experiences I've had.

 

Unfortunately, this is par for course when you're going on Indeed or responding to random job emails. In many cases, there's a reason why they are having trouble hiring people the old fashioned way (networking).

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I have had several interviews. And most of the time they are ok. But this was just so ODD! To have others come in during my interview and sit down and start trying to sell me on it and basically never ask me about myself.....

 

I sent what is probably my BEST "Thank YOU, but No thank you, and keep me in mind for clinical positions" email that I have ever sent to anyone, EVER, LOL!

And I wasn't responding to random job interviews - they posted a clinical provider position that wasn't a PA and I responded, and what I drove to was supposed to be an interview for that position. Instead, they pitch something COMPLETELY different and even in a different CITY to me.

 

Disappointment is too understated a word here.

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So I had a formal interview yesterday from a cold call email where, after seeing an ad for a different clinical provider, I had reached out to see if they needed a PA. The company was very large in terms of provider number. The area and field was great, benefits on point, but the interview took a weird turn....

 

...When several other people with their corporation were invited to enter my interview....

 

I immediately had the sense that something was up and I was about to get ganged up on - and my intuition rarely ever proves wrong....

 

But the group seemed to keep directing me to a position that wasn't the standard clinical position and even started talking about me in the third person while seated beside me - saying things like "That job is closer to her home," and "I'd like that over the other one" bit and were really trying to sell it to me. Unfortunately, it wasn't something I was interested in, and I had great difficulty bringing the conversation back to the original position I had inquired about......

......

 

I left it feeling quite blindsided.

 

this sounds like a position they cannot fill. there is a reason they can't fill it. trust your gut and say, "no thank you". tell them you are applying for the other position, and if they won't discuss it, then walk.

 

also - one of my rules of thumb: if it feels weird and sounds weird and talks weird, it's not weird....it's AWFUL!!!

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this sounds like a position they cannot fill. there is a reason they can't fill it. trust your gut and say, "no thank you". tell them you are applying for the other position, and if they won't discuss it, then walk.

 

also - one of my rules of thumb: if it feels weird and sounds weird and talks weird, it's not weird....it's AWFUL!!!

 

Kittryn! I know! As I said, I am quite intuitive - it very rarely ever proves wrong. This had "bad" all over it. I am actually more upset now that I wasted the gas to get there.

 

As I said, at the end, when they applied the pressure, I was just like, "Then, no thank you."

I am often told I look 6-7 years younger than what I actually am, and I think that they saw a fresh-faced new grad (I was one of the oldest 5 in a class of 90) and they thought they could con me into something.

Of course, I said no and expressed interest in the original position, to which I felt I got the brush-off.

But yes, as UGoLong stated, I can chalk it up to life experience and keep looking! It just sucks being jobless.

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Here's something interesting that happened to me today that I believe is related to this thread:

 

I also have an interest in entrepreneurship. I have a developing business (in addition to my PA job) and am always open to new opportunities. I started talking to someone that seemed to have an interesting business proposition. When we actually started getting deeper into it, it became apparent that he was trying to sell me hard on working for him for free under the guise of improving my "sales skills". Obvious con.

 

But what really struck me was how similar this experience was to a recent dermatology interview I had: baiting me, then selling me on the idea of learning the skill (literally telling me that she would make me a "superstar derm pa"), then trying to get me to work for free. I'm sure that if I accepted it, I would have ended up taking significant risks against my license as well. Not surprisingly, she disappeared when I started asking more detailed questions.

 

I expect this kind of thing among shady "entrepreneurs", but I'm surprised that I've seen so much of it while on interviews in the medical field.

 

Just goes to show you that this kind of thing happens everywhere and that you always have to be alert. Great job for recognizing a sketchy situation and then dodging it!

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Kittryn! I know! As I said, I am quite intuitive - it very rarely ever proves wrong. This had "bad" all over it. I am actually more upset now that I wasted the gas to get there.

 

As I said, at the end, when they applied the pressure, I was just like, "Then, no thank you."

I am often told I look 6-7 years younger than what I actually am, and I think that they saw a fresh-faced new grad (I was one of the oldest 5 in a class of 90) and they thought they could con me into something.

Of course, I said no and expressed interest in the original position, to which I felt I got the brush-off.

But yes, as UGoLong stated, I can chalk it up to life experience and keep looking! It just sucks being jobless.

 

even if they offered you the job you wanted I'd turn it down based on their original behavior. they have already showed themselves to be self-serving, strange, and manipulative, and so even if you got the job you want, you'll still have to work for those ass-hats.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here's something interesting .............

 

...................

 

I expect this kind of thing among shady "entrepreneurs", but I'm surprised that I've seen so much of it while on interviews in the medical field.

 

Just goes to show you that this kind of thing happens everywhere and that you always have to be alert. Great job for recognizing a sketchy situation and then dodging it!.....................

 

Maverick87, THANKS! 

 

Again, I am thinking that employers frequently see a CV of a recent grad and think I am naive ..... I mean, my work history is in your hand.....

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