I had the most bizarre and negative interview experience of my life, that ultimately resulted in never wanting to work for Oracle and actively discouraging friends and family who express interest in growing their career there.
I was pursued by a recruiter and agreed to an interview to discuss an exciting role on a new team there. After the first interview, I was more excited than I expected and looked forward to meeting with more of the team. The recruiter was leaving for vacation and I was told the hiring manager would be reaching out directly to set up time. I never heard from them so I reached back out. A different recruiter set up time, but when I dialed in, it wasn’t the hiring manager—it was the new recruiter, doing another phone screen. This is now almost three weeks into the process and I’m back to square one. I finally did meet with the hiring manager and it went well. In all conversations, I was told the role was based in my current home city but was asked if I would be open to another city I’d never visited. My response was the same: possibly, but I’d need to visit before committing, and my understanding is that this role is based here. Their response was: oh yes it is, we are just curious if you’re open.
Two more video interviews in, and I’m told the role is based in the other city and am I still interested? At this point, I have another offer and tell the team this, and they ask if I can fly to the other city to meet with the entire team as a final interview before issuing an offer. I rearrange my schedule and agree to fly in. I wait all afternoon and evening for the flight info and don’t receive it. I reach out the next morning to find the recruiter forgot to book it, and I have to rearrange my schedule and the interview again.
Finally make it to the location and arrive at the hotel to find no reservation for me; turns out they never rebooked the hotel when they moved the flight; I have to cover the hotel and be reimbursed.
The interview is not what I was told it would be. The executive I was told I’d be meeting with was not even in town the week of the interview, so I don’t know why they told me I would be meeting with them. The team I did meet with was great, with the exception of one person who was added last minute, had no idea what role I was interviewing for but was extremely aggressive in asking questions that had nothing to do with the role. I lead a 40 minute presentation with a q&a, and then had 1:1s with the team. The hiring manager I had met with several times was the final 1:1. All of the meetings went well, and the team spoke as if the offer had already been extended to me. The hiring manager asked: so we love you. Are you in? I responded, I would love to discuss an offer but is the role based here or in my home location? He said it was based in the new city with no exceptions. I replied that I would need to think it through and review the entire offer but was very interested. He left and asked me to wait while be brought over the offer. Since they rushed the process due to me having another offer on the table, I was told they had already drawn up the paperwork with the hope that the last interview went well. At this point, I have been there for 3.5 hours and it’s 6pm so the office is mostly empty. I waited in the conference room for 45 minutes prior to reaching out to the hiring manager and recruiter via email, and not receiving a response. I waited another 40 minutes after. It’s almost 8pm and I have been sitting alone in the room for almost two hours. I finally wrote a note and left. I didn’t hear back from the hiring manager until the next morning, and he replied as if i was still in the room: “still waiting on the offer letter, but feel free to go home and I’ll follow up!” I replied that I had gone home about 12 hours before and that I was no longer interested in the role. I followed up with the recruiter to share my experience and they completely ghosted me and just stopped responding. The entire process was so disorganized from every possible aspect (the interviews, the delays, the location of the role, the last minute flight, the travel arrangements), but that last experience really confirmed my gut feeling. Did he forget I was there, or did he just not care? Either way, it’s a no for me. I was reached out to by a different recruiter recently and told them I had a terrible experience previously, and was not interested, and again they stopped responding after that. You would think a company like Oracle would be interested in the experience of a senior leader they have actively pursued for years but they have shown no interest, so maybe they will read it here.