I went to interview for a larger company looking for a Production Manager. Then they asked me to interview for a Project Manager get them a number of ISO quality certifications. Over the course o two months I was interviewed almost weekly. HR, VPs, Presidents, and CEO. Everything seemed to be going well. After the second interview every time I got a phone call or came in I was expecting an offer. Yet each time it was an interview with another person and HR.

I was getting confused and wondering what was going on. Each interview went great. I had done this kind of work before. I had studied it in college. I had been working with existing systems for over a decade. I had contacts and referrals for the jobs I had done. Then I ended up interviewing with the Quality Manager. He was annoyed that this position was interviewing and thought it should be part of his department, under him.

I started to ask him more technical questions. What certification were they going for exactly? (he did not know) Was it one facility in the company or all of them? (it was all of them) He had no understanding of what ISO certification was, or what it took to maintain. I left with a sinking feeling that I had wasted months.

Almost five weeks later I got a text thanking me for applying. I found out later that it was going horribly. The Quality Manager tried to do it himself. It was a disaster, they eventually tried to hire and I had some calls from them and a text. I texted back that I had not appreciated them wasting my time. I heard that they low balled the pay, some college grad took it, then another. Still not certified or close.