Some years ago, I had gone through two rounds of interviews for a publishing company.  They told me it was down to me and another candidate.  The last piece of the interview process was a research project.  I was supposed to set up an appointment with the manager of a few university bookstore managers and do something that I can’t quite recall.  I don’t recall the exact details except that I did call some schools and not nary person was available to meet with me.  I did this all on my lunch breaks.  Something didn’t feel right.  I decided to check the company and their process out before I did more which would include me taking time off of my existing job, doing a bunch of research, taking more time off to present to the interviewing committee and handing it over to them.  Turns out, the company had a reputation for using research candidates’ projects for corporate sales and never hiring them.  I withdrew myself from the race.

Years prior, I went on an interview for a job that was full of men.  The interview was with all men.  I remember having to do a presentation.  It went well.  At the end of it, they essentially offered me the job and followed with asking if I would be comfortable working around all of the men.  One added that they were former military and I was very pretty.  I was very young.  I told them I could handle it.  I left, called my mom and decided that even though I did not have a job, putting myself in that environment wasn’t a good idea.  What neither she, nor I ,realized at the time, what they said was likely illegal.  But I knew it didn’t FEEL right.  It didn’t feel right that they anticipated how the men would treat me, that it could make any woman uncomfortable, and they were asking me to approve it in the interview process. I had the luxury of withdrawing from that job as well.

People will take advantage of you as a candidate.  This goes beyond several interviews then radio silence.  This goes beyond low-balling you.  They will ask you questions they know they shouldn’t ask.  They will make assumptions about you.  How they treat you as a candidate is how they will treat you as an employee.  Remember that.  It’s true that occasionally those things work out in your favor.  But, just as often, we ignore the signs and our intuition telling us there is sh*t in the game.

Bottom Line:  When you don’t feel right about something, don’t do it.  I know there are times when we feel backed into a corner.  In those times, pause and think about all of your options.  Instead of working in a culture that I expected to be filled with predatory men, I paused, looked at my accounts, other interviews I had scheduled, and chose to move on.