So, the first job interview in a while was....."interesting." More than anything, I just need to parse this, so I'm writing it out. Feel free to ignore.
TLDR: I think I was called in to interview with a place just because they wanted to show off their building. Either I'm a lot more of a crotchety old dude than I thought(possible, but unlikely), or millennials really are just vapid, #######s with no sense of awareness of anything beyond their phone.
Place is billing itself as a "nascent technology company"(that's bull#### speak for "software startup"). It can call itself "tech company" as much as it wants, but it won't change they fact that they're really a marketing firm. However, don't tell all the hoodies in the board room that(I guess).
Anyway, I stroll in the front door to Hot####rocketdoggrambook and it's an awesome space. Everything looks pristine and new(and it is. Only been around about 10 months). Imagine some nerds dream of what they THINK some Silicone Valley firm resembles(so, what a real one looks like with about 150% more tropes added) and you're probably pretty close to a visual. Bullpen type work area, but with "open cubies"(####### hate that people call them that. It's a freaking desk behind some plexiglass) around the outside of the work area and a few glass enclosed corner offices. They make a point to take me around and note that "this is where our executive chef would normally be(he's on vacation)", and "here's our gym, with part-time personal trainer", "here's our podcast room", "here's our soundstage where we capture all the video for our digital media", etc, etc. My tour guides(the hiring manager and a lead dev) were very polite....and quite clearly could not give a flying uckfey about the fact they were supposed to be interviewing me. Like they were killing time to avoid it. Something's off here, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
Finally get around to the sit down portion of the show and I realize that the creative director isn't even going to be involved....which makes less than zero sense given, you know, I'm interviewing for a senior creative position. I asked about that and they said we'd meet him in a bit(Which, sure enough we did I literally saw the guy for 3 seconds. Shook my hand, refused to make eye contact and retreated to his desk. Nice to meet me, I guess?).
Anyway, we go through the question and answer portion of the thing. I'm interviewing them more than they are interviewing me....and it's clear they don't know how to react to that. I answer all their questions. They answer mine with other questions. :eyeroll: We finish up and on the way out they walk me around to introduce a few other people and I notice what's been bugging me the whole time. Everyone in this place, save one guy, are about as morose of a group as I've ever seen. Everyone looks like someone just shot their dog. No one is interacting with anyone else. And I'm not talking the "Well, it may have been a long day" kind of look. They look legitimately sad. I'm wondering if I showed up on a day that someone at the office actually slipped loose the mortal coil at this point.
Hiring manager briefly told me that she'd be forwarding along some items for me to check out. She's yet to do so, but when I DO finally get a hold of them a reply is expected.....and I'm trying to decide if I need to flat out ask "So, was that the typical vibe around the office?" just to see if I can find out of Willie the Janitor hung himself or not. Because if that's not the case, they better start checking everyone's "urban satchel" for razor blades.