Received an email to schedule a phone screen with a recruiter. Had a call, recruiter was very transactional, asked the same standard questions one would expect from any interview. Made minimal effort to really understand a candidate. He was unable to effectively answer questions around the intent of the role, purpose of the group, or how the group functions in coordination with other corporate functions. He deferred everything to the hiring manager. Phone screen was about 15 minutes.
Two weeks later, met with a potential colleague and the hiring manager. Unaligned is the best way I can describe my impression of the two MS employees. The start and introduction was shaky at best - the MS team just did not seem prepared. They provided a very general articulation about the role - vague enough that it spawned several questions.
I ended up asking a lot of questions...why the role was in their group (is it a shadow function,) how they partner with others, what is their mandate, how they quantify value, what is their strategy in 2016 and beyond, how they align to the corporate strategy. They had so much trouble answering my questions that I ended up giving them generic "answers" as I pose each question. To my dismay, they actually took the bait without offering further insights.
Having read the glassdoor reviews prior, I asked them what they thought about the ratings. They did not even try to answer - offering just a shrug. I pushed hard to get an understanding as how their team and MS is actively addressing colleague engagement - neither individual gave the impression that the concept is critical to their success - almost as if they had on blinders or just did not want to address the question.
When I asked about timing and next steps - I received a very lackadaisical response. Total time - about 45 minutes that dragged on. We had a meeting of the minds that the company and opportunity is clearly not the right fit.