The recruiter reached out to me about a remote instructional designer position. It was a phone screening and basically a waste of my time. During the phone screening the recruiter seemed not interested and kept speaking fast like they were in a hurry to get off the phone. The recruiter wasn't interested in my experiences nor the interview at all. I asked a question and they chuckled at it. They lacked professionalism. I knew I wasn't going to be moved to 2nd round. A waste. I should have reporter the recruiter to their manager.

It was like a weird first date. The recruiter asked me for a good time to call for a half-hour interview. I gave them a date/time. They called me 22 minutes late. They said it was unprofessional and inexcusable of them. That's how the interview kicked off. I agreed to still take the interview then. I went in a little unsure about Appian. From what I could gather from the website and other reviews here, it seemed like a lot of flash but maybe not as much substance behind that veneer. In any case, I was still earnest in wanting to learn more about the company and the job position. The recruiter got very hung up on why I would leave a job without having another one lined up. I said it was for professional reasons, wanting to advance my skills or broaden them into other areas. They pressed some more and I offered that the work conditions were not great. They asked me if leaving was an "emotional decision." Now there's a loaded word. Leaving my job was not a decision I made lightly and the reasons for doing so, well, it would have taken an hour to explain the full extent. I felt judged by the recruiter and made to feel like I was a lesser person for not sticking with it. The recruiter said they wanted to hire people with "grit." To me, that is coded language for "we want to hire people who can put up with a lot." I put in 6 years with my last employer. I think I have "grit." But there may be a time when circumstances push us too far beyond anything reasonable, and I found myself in one of those situations. You are fortunate if you never experience anything like that. If you do though, I hope you have the courage and means to walk away from that situation. We deserve better. Anyway, over the course of the interview, we learned I don't have all the skill set/qualifications that Appian is looking for. That is the point of an interview after all. Perhaps this could have been deduced over an email though.