Usacomplaints.com » Shops, Products, Services » Complaint / Review: Ibm - Ripoff Change Your Employment Practices. #210869

Complaint / Review
Ibm
Ripoff Change Your Employment Practices

This uniquely unrewarding experience was a first for me and hopefully, will be the last and I could not help sharing it with others. I am not sure if anyone else out there has been scathed by IBM like this.

I sent in an online application to IBM in June and after several months, I received a call from one of their HR personnel. A couple of days later, the same person called me back and informed me that I was being considered for a different position from the one that I had applied for. Although I was not whole-heartedly interested in the role that IBM was considering me for, I acquiesced knowing that I would not have a choice in the matter with a company like IBM. I either agree to the role that they offer or I do not have any role in that company.

So, I went for an in-person interview to one of IBM's offices in August. They conducted a rigorous 3-4 hour interview and I was told that if I were being offered a position, then I would be informed within a week and that I would be starting within a month. Several days went by after the interview, without any response. Then I received a one-line email indicating that they were interested in me but that email did not provide any further information. It simply said that IBM HR was putting together an offer packet for me and that I would receive it shortly.

So, time passed by days turned into weeks and weeks into months. I sent a few follow-up emails inquiring about the status of the offer. A couple of my emails were responded to and the response was always the same the offer letter should arrive in a couple of days. Finally, about 2 months after the interview - I was emailed an offer letter with compensation information but without a start date. I accepted the offer and several weeks went by after which, I received an email indicating that my start date had been postponed. Now all this time, I was communicating with just one person from IBM HR via email only. He indicated that he would call me sometime to discuss the offer.

In the phone conversation, I was informed that my tentative start date would be 3/5 and that the delay was because the project that I was hired for, would begin only at that time. The IBM HR personnel also indicated that in the interim, they would employ me on a contract basis and that someone would call me in a couple of days to discuss that option. This arrangement really puzzled me as to why would an organization delay a potential employee's start date after making them an offer, and then consider providing a contractual offer.

Anyhow, as I had come to expect from IBM nobody ever called me for any contract opportunity.in Jan of I received an email from an IBM Resource Manager that they were looking to fill a slot immediately and that they were looking for someone with my skill-set (let's call it skill-set S). This position was apparently for the same project that IBM had made an offer to me. I came to learn eventually that that project had actually started right after I had been given the offer from IBM although I was given a different story by the IBM HR personnel. My start date was delayed on the premise that the project start date had been delayed.

The IBM Resource Manager scheduled another phone interview with me although I had already been to a face-to-face interview with IBM. I was asked a lot of irrelevant questions in that interview an example being, how long had it been since I had last used skill-set S. I had used the skill-set S at my last place of employment, before I had interviewed with IBM the previous year. Although they themselves delayed my joining date, they still expected me to have recent experience of skill-set S. The interviewer also asked for a reference from my last employer and I provided him with the same.

So, as usual after the interview I received no response from IBM again. Finally, I decided that it was high time that IBM make up its mind either way. I had already ignored and missed several good job offers in my wait for IBM. So, I sent the IBM HR personnel an email asking him whether the offer was still good and whether there was any point in my waiting any further. After a week or so later, I received a vmail from the HR personnel that they had retracted the offer due to some negative reference check. I felt that I had the right to more detailed information rather than simply a one-line notification after having been denied employment, especially after such a long wait. So, I enquired to know the details of the reference check. I was curtly informed that it was their policy not to disclose any information.

Out of curiosity, a few days later, I checked with the reference from my last employer if they had been contacted by IBM. They had not been. So, IBM keeps candidates in limbo by taking forever, to make an offer and providing a start date; and then discards them without providing any proper explanation. My helpful advice to IBM will be to conduct all prospective employee background and reference checks before providing a start date and once you make an offer, honor it. Do not make candidates wait till eternity give them a definite answer within a reasonable time. There are a lot of better companies to work for and if this trend continues, you will soon stop getting any applicants. I knew that they had a terribly bad reputation about employment practices, but getting a first-hand experience of it, has opened my eyes for good. I do hope that my experience will be a good lesson to all applicants and prospective employees to IBM.

AnyName
AnyCity
U.S.A.


Offender: Ibm

Country: USA   State: New York   City: Armonk
Address: 1 New Orchard Road

Category: Shops, Products, Services

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