After the screening process. I interviewed with the sales manager. His demeanor was very interesting. They have a lower than average starting pay. For those reasons along with other things, I declined the offer

Lengthy and misleading. After being referred by a former colleague they interviewed me by phone and then asked that I present in person in Vancouver, which I did. They then put me on hold for several weeks awaiting a decision. We finally agreed on salary and benefits and I was asked to begin work in two weeks. When I arrived, the company had been significantly downsized. Shortly thereafter they engaged a second associate to do the exact same job. I was made to feel quite unwelcome and although I had many years experience doing the job they hired me to do (sales), they prevented me from getting on with my job instead extending a lengthy training process that did not appear to follow any regular agenda or protocols. I had given up a significant opportunity in my home town and eventually accepted the position despite the fact they would not remove the probationary period or agree to a cash penalty should they not continue the arrangement within the first twelve months. I was put in an awkward position however due to the fact I had been recommended and referred by a former colleague whom I respected and was in a high-ranking position within the firm (Senior VP), I accepted and moved at my own expense. I also signed a long term lease on a new vehicle they required for the position. I should have perhaps insisted they remove any probationary period however the job was an opportunity to improve my financial status and they had refused to remove any qualifying period condition of employment. In retrospect, I was a little overzealous in accepting on the terms they offered and should have stuck to my guns. It has cost me both financially and morally/emotionally wasting a year of my career at an important time as I prepare for retirement in the next ten years or so. Accepting required that I make a serious commitment to a significant career change both in terms of redirection and relocation to Vancouver in a seriously overvalued Real Estate market. Prices for Detached Single Family dwellings have risen over $600,000 in the past two years and there are evidently over 60,000 unoccupied mansions currently in Metropolitan Vancouver.