I would like to share my recent interview experience at Macy's. This was at the West Valley Mally for the opening of the new branch in Tracy, California. I had applied for the position of Administrative Associate. I am a graduate with experience and had all the necessary skills outlined for this position.

Moreover, I was later sent an email inviting me for an interview. I went for the interview at Tracy Recruiting Center for Macy's and was interviewed by a person named Roya whom I believed was from the HR Department. She asked me questions based on the above-mentioned position. I myself have also worked in the Human Resources Dept of a multi-national organization as a Training and Development Manager, therefore the process was easy for me. At this moment the interviewer seemed very impressed with my interview and advised me should you qualify for the position, I will call you for second interview.

And I was called for the second interview. This time a person by the name Michael Montanino called for a second interview. At this time I was expecting someone from HR, like Roya to call. Nevertheless, I was so excited with my understanding of a second interview and with the confirmation of Roya that they will call should I qualify. I believed they will confirm me and discuss the working hours, site visitation etc. So when I went for second interview, I was interviewed by another person named Michael. He started his interview for a different position altogether. I was not informed prior that this second interview is not a follow-up of your first interview but for a different job altogether. However, all this while I was assuming this second interview would be for the exact position I had applied for. And rightfully that is how it should have been. I personally have experience with hundreds of interviews where we professionally organized the details of the short-listed candidates before calling them. I sensed and noted, these staff did not properly discuss prior to calling and interviewing candidates. Michael mentioned to me that the Admin Associate job has been filled and he would like to offer me something different. I was glad with the offer. He mentioned this was something of a Team Lead position. He thoroughly discussed my Resume and went over it and even mentioned to me "You belong here, you have got great organizational skills - this is what we are looking for and you are it". So he said, he is going to confirm the position right now since this was my second interview and he also mentioned there is no need for a third day. Let me confirm this right away.

Furthermore, he stated he needed to discuss few details about the job to his fellow collegue - someone by the name Gaibe. By end of the second interview with Michael, he had confirmed me a position even though a different one. At this point I was told I will have a third interview with Gaibe now. So this third person comes up and starts his interview session with me. He also went over my Resume and asked questions based on my prior work experiences. He also stated I had great skills and a good match for our team. By now judging by the organizational and leadership skills of Michael and Gaibe I told myself these two cannot be from Human Resources and they seemed to have little to no knowledge of hiring /recruiting process. I felt embarrased being passed from Roya to Michael then to Gaibe - 3 interviews with nothing solid yet. Now Gaibe started discussing with me commission based and on-call part time positions with very short hours and few days off as if to shoo me away! The point to note is where all this started from and where it has ended. By now I was so depressed. This seemed totally disorganized esp.on the part of the HR team - I am sure Roya could have done a better job. This is not just any company - this is Macy's and its reputation these staff are putting at stake. Gaibe finished his interview and advised me he would give me a call on Tuesday 7th September. Later as Gaibe was done, Michael comes along and tells me sorry but the position he was offering me was not available anymore while just few moments ago he was confirming me for the position. And I could not even understand the purpose of third interview with Gaibe. He was discussing things which was not of my interest.

I just could not get what was going on with these three staff passing me around and with three totally different perspectives. This was an indication the 3 staff didnt properly sit together and discuss or review the points before interviewing. Very dis-organized and un-professional. Made me feel like an idiot. Michael and Gaibe work under the same roof, how could Michael confirm me for a position and later same day tell me the job is not available. Seems like a communication break-down between staff. They were discussing my organizational skills - I wonder what level is theirs. So the final say after the third interview by Gaibe was that they will call me on Tuesday 7th Sept.

My first interview with Roya was on 26th August, the second and third with Michael and Gaibe was on 3rd Sept. Now Michael had confirmed me for a position then later decided to take it away saying nothing is available while Gaibe decides to give me a call on Tuesday 7th Sept and through all these process there was no word from Roya whatever happended to the first interview deal where she advised me they will call for a second interivew if I qualify for the postion of Admin Associate - the position I was interested in and applied for.

By now I was psychologically down and depressed with what these three staff of Macy's had done to me. With my experience of HR we had never treated our candidates like this in such an unprofessional and totally disorganized manner. So I came back home heavy-heartedly. I could not sleep the night so I decided to go back to the recruiting centre in Tracy and share my thoughts with Roya. I went the next day Saturday 4th Sept however, Roya was not around so I shared my concern with Michael since he was the one who called me for second interview. I explained all the above from my perspective and he realized and agreed they had done wrong. He accepted their mistake in the presence of my father and few other interivew candidates. He even apologized to me. At this point he did accept that they were at fault and promised me he will discuss this with Roya again and get back to me. Now he went on to say they might re-think about the Admin Associate position as it was still not filled while a day before he told me the position was filled. He also went on to mention he would consider me for a position from his department but they will definitely work something out as they were at fault. When I stated to him of the interview with Gaibe and the kind of options he started giving me, Michael stated he didnt send me to him for discussions on on-call position and commission based position. Then I wonder whatever the third interview was for. To my surprise Michael even mentioned Gaibe is in no position to interivew candidates like me. This made me wonder how qualified are these staff themselves esp. who are involved in recruiting and hiring. I told Michael you three should have instead prepared your questions and interviewed as a panel and he even agreed with me. I told him if you agree then why didnt you all did that at the first place. All he could say was sorry and they were at fault. He again made a promise that this matter will be discussed with Roya and they will defineltely call me on Tuesday 7th Sept. Meanwhile, he gave me his cell phone number 925-519-8788 and his personal email (not with company domian) [email protected] and told me I could call him whenever I wanted and email him whenever as he checked his email about 25 or more times a day. This again made my wonder since this was not companys email the staff are logged onto the interntet to check their personal emails so many times a day.

On 7th Sept, however, noone called but sent an email they didnt have any oppotunity for me.Very interesting. Calling me for first interview, then second interivew, then third, then confirming another position and deciding to take it away and then the email - final blow!

My concern is not that I didnt get the job, what I am concerned is what all is going on in there.I thought Macy's was an Equal Opportunity Employer. When Michael discussed with Gaibe about the position he wanted to confirm me for and later after discussing he decides the jobs in no longer available made me feel was the job reserved for someone else? Was I discriminated? Too many questions are being raised into my mind after the experience with Macy's staff Roya, Michael and Gaibe. I have trained people like Gaibe and Michael. My opinion is such people should not be assigned to recruit.