Negative experience due to poor staffing agency coordination
I was contacted by Sur staffing agency about this role. The job listing provided minimal information—just a tech stack description with nothing about the product or company. The tech stack interested me, so I proceeded.
The application process involved filling out a questionnaire (5-7 questions about my experience with the tech stack etc), recording a memo for English verification, and submitting everything through the agency's website. Days later, an agency representative asked me to resend written responses to the same questions I'd already answered in the questionnaire—the first red flag.
I then had a screening call where I was asked the same questions for a third time. This was entirely one-sided: the interviewer asked questions, and I was only allowed to ask my own at the end. When I tried to learn about the company and product to evaluate my interest, I was denied this information. I was told "someone" would contact me about next steps if Venn liked my profile, but received no details about the interview format or hiring manager.
A few days later, Venn reached out directly to schedule an interview, describing it as a discussion about my experience, the role details, and my questions. Meanwhile, the agency removed the job listing—another yellow flag suggesting the position was filled, though no one cancelled the meeting. I discovered this the evening before the interview.
I attended with low expectations and no real information about the role. The interviewer, supposedly the technical lead, immediately wanted to dive into technical skills and some behavioral questions. I had to push back to first understand what the product and role actually were. The information I received was vague and unclear, with many uncertainties about both the role and technical implementation. I learned the position essentially involved adapting third-party software to their platform. At that point, I lost interest and concluded the interview.
The agency's unprofessionalism ruined what could have been a reasonable process. Weeks later, I found a WhatsApp message from them (a platform I don't use) asking about my interview status.
I spent the entire interview trying to obtain information I should have received before applying or during the screening call. This wasted both my time and the interviewer's time.