They were ghosted after the interview. Then, eventually, the offer letter arrived — full of spelling mistakes. The person who sent it explained that she had thrown it together in a hurry because the company that was supposed to handle it had never sent it over.
The first day explained some of it. Payroll, onboarding paperwork and training were all handled by outside companies on contract. When one of them dropped the ball, the mess landed on whoever was waiting at the other end of the process.
They also learned that the company had recently made significant changes and lost a lot of employees — some unwilling to adapt to new expectations, others unwilling to take on more work.
The part they did not expect: the new job is in recruiting, for a different part of the business, and the training keeps emphasising communication with candidates throughout the hiring process.