How about tomorrow?
Sometime around late summer/early fall 2018, I received a quick call from a contract maintenance company that was looking for some sort of electronics technician. The position was in a rural area about two hours north of my then-current location. Not exactly ideal, but I decided to check it out because I was looking for a move, knew the area, and didn't think I'd mind being there. I asked the recruiter, who claimed to be an internal person to the company, to send me an email with the position information.
Recruiter sent me an email about the position. The details were kind of sparse, and we traded a few emails before recruiter asked if they could call me for a phone discussion, and indicated that the phone screen would be an in-depth talk about the position, pay rate, and other details. I don't necessarily like going into an interview like this blind, but there's no harm in talking to someone about what's going on. This was Wednesday, so I said sure, we negotiated a time, and that was that. I want to make it clear that the recruiter was unwilling to provide more details in email. That's kind of but not really a big red flag.
Thursday, I get an email maybe 4-5 hours before the phone call was supposed to happen, recruiter had something come up. Could we reschedule for Friday? Sure, no problem, stuff happens.
Friday, I get an email first thing (8AM or so.) Recruiter has an all-day meeting, can we rescedule for Monday? Well, I guess, but didn't you know about this in advance? That seems like something you'd know about.
Over the weekend, I do some research into the company. Nothing really bad, but the "We started our company with a drawing on the back of a napkin!" was kind of cheesy. Reviews on a site about entrances that you can see through suggested the company wasn't bad to work for, there just wasn't anywhere to go in said company. Terminology like "This is just a stepping stone" or "This is a great starting point, but you're going to move on in a year" were common sayings.
Monday, I get an email first thing. Recruiter has something going on that day, can we reschedule for Tuesday?
I remained professional but firm. No, this was not acceptable, this will be the 4th time we've tried to connect. You are apparently too busy to do the base function of your job as a recruiter, your company gives the appearance of not caring about staffing needs for their business, and you're disrespecting my time. I am no longer interested in applying for this position, please do not contact me again. I didn't receive any reply to this, not that I expected one. After all, how could recruiter find the time?
Of course, they didn't do that. I get messages from time to time on the major job boards, looking for contract techs at a far-off auto manufacturing location that's well known for chewing through people. Maybe I'll call them tomorrow. Or the next day, or the day after.
But I probably have something going on.