My interview process started with an initial meeting with the recruiter on September 21st. During this time, we aligned on salary and expectations for the role. Based on these terms, I expressed interest in proceeding. The recruiter said she would pass my information off to the CEO for review.
I heard back from the recruiter on October 5th. They wanted to proceed and thus, my initial interview with the CEO was scheduled on October 8th at 12pm. At 12:01pm (on October 8th), the CEO emailed requesting to reschedule due to a conflict. We rescheduled for the following Friday (October 15th).
The interview with the CEO was not difficult, it was kind of refreshing. The CEO was very nice and conversational. Our meeting went well and thus, I agreed to pull examples from my portfolio for a subsequent interview with the CEO the following week. These examples were also shared with two of his existing employees, who I also met with the following week. This conversation went well too.
The CEO requested another conversation towards the end of October to make sure I was interested in the role. I thought I would be receiving an offer during this time, but it was as if the CEO couldn’t make up his mind. This was confusing to me, but I did appreciate the portfolio review. However, the multiple Zoom meetings and ambiguity on Petram’s part were time consuming on my part (e.g. hours spent preparing for interviews, hours spent getting “Zoom ready”).
I had my last meeting with the CEO on November 4th. I received an offer, however it wasn’t a positive moment. The whole time, I thought I was interviewing for the “Director, Consulting” role (this was included in our calendar invites). However, at some time during the interview process, the CEO and the recruiter talked behind the scenes about rebranding the role and changing the pay scale. I was offered a “Customer Success Manager” role for $40k less than what we agreed to upfront. Having over 14 years of experience, with prior roles being Director level, a manager role would change my trajectory as well as my future career opportunities. For these reasons, I countered and said I would accept if the original terms were upheld (position title and salary). I never heard from the CEO again and the recruiter “wished me well.”
While the CEO was very nice, as well as his staff (he as an exceptional executive admin), I gained nothing from this experience. I put in a lot of work and in the end, Petram Data failed me. This isn’t a positive start to a new job, especially one I don’t have to take (due to interviewing at several other places at a higher rate).
