I applied online and had a phone interview with someone from an office in another state, even though I applied for a position in my area. Phone interview went great, so an in-person interview was set up with someone from my area. The interview was standard, but I felt like the interviewers wanted to be anywhere but there. I hardly had a chance to thank them for their time before they were shaking my hand and walking back to their offices. It felt like they were already giving me the cold shoulder. I interviewed with two people. I answered questions, asked them in return, spoke about the position. Very typical, but I think one of the biggest differences with talking to this agency in comparison to others was the fact that they continuously brought up how wonderful the agency was, ad nauseam. It didn't really come across as humble as I assume was their intention, but to me, rather superior and a bit off-putting. At the end of the interview, I was given a writing test to be completed within two days. I followed up with post-interview emails after the meeting, and I submitted my test, did followups on status a few days later, and waited a week or two to hear back. Nothing. So when I emailed the local office, I got no reply and instead was sent an email from the person in another state letting me know they were moving forward with someone else. On the one hand, I'm glad I heard back rather than receiving no reply whatsoever. However, I do find it unprofessional that no one contacted me or that when they finally got back to me, someone from an entirely different office let me know. You'd think for a PR firm, they'd be much more responsible with how they handle communications instead of brushing off potential candidates like I felt they'd done with me.

Interview went nicely, the lady I met with seemed very nice and I had great vibes about it walking out. I had been referred from an employee in the SF office so we got to talk about that. A couple weeks go by and I get the email that another intern had been hired. I had no hard feelings about it, until I heard the feedback they provided my reference in the SF office. "She was great, really knew what she was talking about and we had narrowed it down to three, including her. We decided against her because we didn't like that she showed up to the interview in blue jeans." I didn't wear blue jeans to the interview....in fact I was dressed very nicely. I had navy-blue colored skinny pants with high heels, a blazer and nice jewelry. And someone told everyone including my professional reference that I showed up to the interview in jeans like a disrespectful slob? Might I also mention that the lady who interviewed me was wearing jeans and a tshirt? This either tells me someone decided they didn't like my outfit when I came walking into the office and decided to pass along the snobby disapproval, or they mixed me up with another candidate who DID show up in jeans. Both disappointing possibilities and embarrassing on their part.