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      The Business Year

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      The Business Year interviewsThe Business Year Sub-editor/Writer interviewsThe Business Year interview


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      Sub-editor/Writer Interview

      13 Feb 2015
      Anonymous employee
      Istanbul
      Accepted offer
      Negative experience
      Easy interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at The Business Year (Istanbul)

      Interview

      The interview itself was routine and handled professionally, but every other interaction was not. Next steps were given during the first interview and never followed up (they were also changed at the last minute). We had agreed I would come into the office for a second interview with one of the editorial directors. This was on a Wednesday, I would come in on either Thursday or Friday. I was told they needed to hire someone immediately the following week, the time-frame given was mid-week and I confirmed I would be available to begin at that time. At the end of business on Thursday, I was told to take a writing and editing test and have it back to them by 5 pm Friday. No ask, just an order. Since I had slotted time on both days for the second interview, I agreed and sent in a rather intensive and time-consuming test. Then, no thank you for your time or feedback. I followed up mid-week and was told I would hear back at the end of the week. When I did not, I continued to accept freelance assignments and interview with other companies. I received a call at the end of business the following Monday saying 'they would like to hire me' but everything was left open-ended and vague. Toward the end of that week, I got another call and I communicated when I would be available to speak, I was called not when we had agreed, but in the middle of an important meeting. When I called during the appointed time period, I was told I would get a call back in "two minutes" - or one hour and 40 minutes later when the call actually was made. During that phone call I was offered the job and when I asked for an offer letter (because we had not nailed down salary, benefits, and other particulars I would have expected to discuss at the second interview) the woman handling HR did not know what that was, but pressed me for a start date. I would not commit to a start date before knowing what was being offered and said I would send her a series of questions. This meant I had to shoulder the burden of finding out the general benefits and perks afforded in Turkey as this would be my first full-time job. I believe it is my responsibility to know my rights and advocate for them - but also, my expectation is that a professional organization should be able to easily supply an offer delineating their offer. Since this was the end of business on Friday, I would write the letter on Monday morning. Unfortunately, I became very sick with the flu on Sunday afternoon and could only communicate that I was sick on Monday to the woman in HR. A week passed and when I followed up the following Monday, I was told that their need was urgent, so they had hired someone else. I am writing this review because I found the entire "culture" of this company during the interview process to be unprofessional in the extreme. Next steps were given and either changed at the last minute or never followed up on. Communication was lax, self-serving and high handed. My professional expectations and requests were never taken into account. Their delay of three weeks was acceptable - even though they had communicated their urgent need the following week causing me to hold off on other freelance work. My one week delay due to illness was not. I needed to conform immediately to their requests - requests that again, constantly suited their needs and never once took mine into account. I found the woman I was dealing with in HR quite nice, but completely inexperienced and lacking basic HR etiquette and knowledge. The whole experience was perhaps the worst that I have ever experienced during an interview process when one hopes that the 'best foot is always put forward'. If this is what interviewing is like, I shudder to think what goes on in the office environment.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      General interview questions about background, experience.
      Answer question
      avatar
      The Business Year response
      11y
      Dear applicant, We greatly appreciate your feedback, and laud Glassdoor as a transparent forum for discussion on employee-employer relationships. In the name of transparency, we wanted to give our side of the story and hopefully allow yourself, and others reading this interaction, to understand why you were eventually not hired to the Sub-Editor position you applied for. Following your interview on a Wednesday, you were sent an email on Thursday at 16.41 asking you to complete a writing and editing task. This is not “at the end of business.” It is a full hour and 20 minutes before the end of a standard working day for us here. The email in question read as follows; "Thank you for your interest in applying for the position of Sub-Editor at The Business Year. We were impressed with your CV and interview and have short-listed you as a candidate for the position. In order to make our final decisions on offering a post, we like to administer 2 fairly straightforward tasks that will give you a sense of what duties you will need to perform on a regular basis when working for us.” We apologise if this came across like an order, but that was certainly not how it was intended and is very conventional in the editing/writing business to test applicants. You did not have to complete the task, although that obviously would have eliminated you from the running. You did, however, respond, and, according to our records, received a reply by email a full 15 minutes later, thanking you for completing the task and letting you know that we’d get back to you. In that respect, your claim of “no thank you for your time or feedback” is a little distressing, especially considering you then responded to that email appreciating the fact that we thanked you for taking the time to compile the assignments. As stated, you got in touch the following week and we responded to say the selection process had still not been finalised. After less than a week following last communication, we had trouble reaching you by phone, and instead entered into an email conversation in an attempt to arrange a phone conversation to suit both parties. After several postponements by you, we managed to talk and offered you the position, when you told us that you’d like to ask some questions, which you said you would email us. That was a Friday. On the Monday you informed us you were sick, as you wrote in your review, and that you’d get back to us with questions later on. We couldn’t reach you later on that week. After a week, you finally got back to us, but by then the position had been filled because, as we had mentioned several times, we needed someone to start immediately. Thank you for your feedback and we wish you luck with your future endeavours.

      Other Sub-editor/Writer interview reviews for The Business Year

      Sub-editor/Writer Interview

      23 Feb 2015
      Anonymous interview candidate
      Istanbul
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at The Business Year (Istanbul) in Feb 2015

      Interview

      I met with the HR manager and the editor. They were very nice and asked some questions about myself. They told me about the position and the magazine. They were very nice and I felt the interview went well. They told me they'd be in contact in the next few days. I sent a thank you letter right after the interview. A week later, I saw the job advertised again. I never got an email or phone call to let me know they were going to go with someone else. I don't feel they were professional in the follow up.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      standard
      Answer question

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