It sounds like you just went through an amateur interview, and if you are seeking a professional company, this type of treatment may be giving you some real insight into the way this company operates. Naturally, there can be interruptions during a job interview if there is a bona fide emergency. However, the phone calls and intermittent secretarial visits you described did not appear to have any sense of urgency, or for that matter, any sense at all.
As a rule, job interviews should be private and free of interruptions. In fact, interruptions create real problems for the interviewers as well as for the interviewees. Interruptions can cause interviewers to get distracted, miss key points, omit necessary follow-up questions, and generally obtain an inaccurate picture of the applicant. And, for the interviewee, interruptions break their trend of thought, prevent them from providing full information, generate feelings of frustration, and raise questions about the company itself.
In today's tight labor market, one important factor that determines an applicant's interest in a company is the way in which he or she is treated during the interview process. Companies that allow countless interruptions during job interviews are also allowing countless applicants to slip away.
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