In a very troubled economy, I was thrilled to learn I was to interview here. They first asked me to prepare a 1 hour presentation to give to their upper management. I enthusiastically spent countless hours of my precious job searching time in doing so- the actual research/preparation involved, practicing presenting, receiving coaching, and preparing the actual presentation for the team. I was nervous but excited the day of the meeting. At least 6 including the President himself sat in on my presentation and I felt it went very well and I was enthusiastic about my chances and about the team I was potentially poised to join if I got the offer. However, for whatever reason, they most inconsiderately forced me to wait * 2 full weeks* before advising me through a third party that "...we are in the middle of strategic business planning that includes a review of our org structure. As a result the Executives have decided it would be wise to not take on any new hires until they have the business plan sorted out etc etc." Imagine asking multiple candidates to put hours of time into preparing for a presentation, only to know that they aren’t even moving forward with a position! To me this vividly demonstrates poor planning, poor inter-office communication, and poor insight to their budget and staffing. And a willingness to waste a *lot* of executive's time. A fail on a number of counts. If you consider that if I was presumably 1 of 3-4 potential candidates they asked of, and they themselves wasted hours of 6 top executives (president, sales lead, HR lead, other managers!) for each presentation. Could this be contributing to disappointing revenue thereby reducing proposed staff counts? Its’ a very small world in my city and reputation is *everything* for companies as it’s such a condensed industry in downtown Calgary. The biggest personal blow to this whole experience (and an opportunity for Energy Navigator to improve on their interview process) is they also failed to offer absolutely NO feedback on how they perceived my presentation went. Devastating! I had never given an interview in this manner and receiving some input and feedback would have undoubtedly have served me greatly, had they chose to handle this in a professional way. Says a lot about the company I was potentially poised to offer my considerable skill set and network connections to. Yanking the rug out on a candidate after forcing them to prepare a nerve-wracking presentation to an intimidating crowd is indeed one thing, but to fail to offer a little input that potentially allows a person to grow, improve, etc in the economy we currently face in Calgary just felt almost exploitative. A definite sour taste in my mouth now. This experience has most definitely marred my opinion of this company, and how it operates. Even if I am not someone joining the team, I still hold a place in the industry and within my own network and potentially have opportunities to recommend this organization and it's products. I will definitely have to learn to move past this if such a situation ever presents itself thanks to this whole experience. Oh well, back to the drawing board! Let's hope the next prospective employer handles this with more professionalism.