I went through a temp agency for this position. I never really spoke with MetLife other than for my interview. I had never dealt with a temp agency in my life, so I am not sure if that is how it typically goes.
Anyways, I had to talk to the recruited for a good 45 minutes on the phone. He took down lots of personal information, and set me up with an interview.
When I arrived for my interview, I had to wait a long time. Probably the longest I've ever waited.
I was then interviewed by two gentlemen at the same time. They asked some of the hardest questions I had ever been asked, some of which I think I could have done better on.
I would say there were easily 20 long answer questions.
They told me a bit about the position, and then I heard back from my recruiter a week later that I had the job.
I wasn't planning on taking the job, because I would be leaving my current job without any notice.
I didn't like that MetLife wanted the start date to be in a little over a week,
However, they changed the date, and it gave me about 16 days.
I put the two weeks in at my job, under the impression that everything was set.
To only find out they had to call all my former employers still, I had to fill out and fax 27 pages to Florida!
Then 4 days before I'm supposed to start, I get a call "Oh we can't verify one of your employers, we need a w2" Mind you I had recently moved and my house was upside down!
After hunting and hunting I finally found the paper.
I then asked "Will I be ready to start this Monday? (It's Thursday) They ignore my question in the e-mail and respond with something unrelated. (this is temp agency)
So I call up and I say "Hi do you know if I will be all set to start Monday? I need to know where and who to report to,"
They were very rude and told me they couldn't confirm a start date yet because they were still waiting for everyone to get their paper work in! ...Oh that's nice, three days till I start and you're telling me this now?
So I am polite and just hang up the phone... But I start getting anxious, that I am going to be without a job come Monday!
So I send one more e-mail saying "Hello I know you said you don't have a definite start date, but I am wondering if you have an idea? I may pick up some days at my current job because I can't be without pay."
I basically got another rude response.
So at that point I asked my current job if I could just continue working there for at least a week, and I was lucky enough that they said yes.
Less than 3 hours later, I get another call telling me to report Monday morning, as previously scheduled.
I was livid! I just signed up for hours at my job that has been loyal to me and the only reason I was leaving was I needed more pay. If I reported Monday I'd be leaving my current employer flat!
I spoke with the manager at my current job told her a brief explanation and she offered to give me my position back as they hadn't found anyone to fill it.
I was very happy about that, and glad I didn't have to work for a company that was so unorganized that they didn't have any idea about a start date that was happening in 3 days!
I was mad that I had wasted so much time doing paper work, interviews, drug tests, competency tests... Getting forms notarized ect...
I do honestly think a lot of the blame was on the Temp agency too though.
I wrote them a letter on Saturday, telling them I wouldn't be coming in Monday because I had signed up for hours at my current job and couldn't leave them flat. I apologized and thanked them for all their help and consideration.
I never got a response, only a call before they had read the e-mail asking me why I didn't show...