just recently I have had to start looking for employment as my second short term contract is ending. I was wondering if anyone else has had the bad experiences I have had. I have been treated very shabbily, after travelling 4 or 5 hrs I have been thrown straight into a presentation without being allowed to even get a glass of water, then told I could leave without even being shown where the exit was! I have had to carry a suitcase into a presentation, been told to take two days off work so I can give a 10 minute presentation on one day and then a 30 minute interview the next day. What is going on? Are there so many of us after every job that they can treat us like cattle? What have your experiences been?

i've been the opposite. i've been really horrible to employers and turning them down after they offer me a job :S

I am not actually talking about me in particular, all candidates I have been with have been treated in the same way at these interview days. It must be very nice for you to be in such demand!

Personally been treated pretty well - got a fully paid week long trip to the states for an interview and a good look round the area - pretty nice

Some of the PhD interviews from a few years back were a bit shabby- rude supervisors etc - but certainly not as bad as yours.

Actually, I'm not being a total nuisance, I'm only turning them down because they are offering not particularly generous salaries :(

I once went to an interview at a trendy commerical research company (all funky desks with macs and bean bags and unisex toilets) and they gave me the crappiest interview ever. I was chucked some architecture articles and asked what they thought I would get out of them - "how would I read it?" - I picked out stuff - they said I my reading was too academic. I asked them what they would expect somebody to get out of the articles, and they couldn't tell me. The interviewers had no idea what they wanted! They kept speaking so vaguely, all buzz word! I left the interview feeling angry and annoyed and was glad that they never bothered to ring me!

That does sounds rubbish. My interviewers have at least been courteous/professional and I've known what to expect. My main gripe is waiting 2 weeks to hear about an interview - for 2 jobs! It just draws out the stress.

I had a job interview like that once - e.g. kept me waiting around, no refreshments, pretty rude etc. They offered me the job but i turned it down cos i figured if thats how they treat interviewees, god only knows how they'd treat you as an employee.

that's exactly how I feel Zelda. What an awful way to treat each other.

I phoned up for feedback today and the woman knew nothing about my application (her name is on the letter) and said it would take a week to track down feedback (they're busy and she has no support staff-the tone of her voice really suggested she couldn't be bothered with a little matter like this).

I got a letter signed/dated 11 Feb and stamped on 19 Feb that I got on 20 Feb. They clearly knew on 11 Feb I was not suitable but held onto it until after other interviews on 18 Feb just in case. They promised sincerely to stay in touch during these 2 weeks but never bothered. The lady on the phone fobbed me off with how it was lost in the post until I told her about the date stamp, then she said it was very unusual. She made a point of saying she would not apologise, it was not her fault and was inappropriate to even bring it up over the phone. I'm not impressed I can tell you! I've now got to wait for a day, a week or whenever to find out what they have to say, stomach churning every time I open my email.