Let me say first that I willfully declined to visit an event during the second stage of the interview process, so I technically didn't get an offer.
So why did I not get to the next step of this process? Well, factors that have to do with Bay Event Marketing and the reviews here on Glassdoor.
From my own experience, I saw that the interviewer was not very sure about how to ask me some questions. Everything felt very...stilted. That's the best way I can explain it. Everything seemed a bit too fake and rehearsed for me to take seriously, which explains why the interview only took five or so minutes. I have never, ever had such a short interview with someone for any job in my life, regardless of getting a job offer at the end or not. On top of that, it was more about explaining the job than asking me any questions. This sort of thing would have been better for a phone interview, if this was all that was going to happen. Even if this was for getting a handle of how someone communicated face-to-face, why not ask if they could use Skype if the whole affair is going to be so brief?
On top of being stilted and brief, they tried to hype up their business. They said that some of the largest companies in the area were begging for their business, even if they were founded just two years ago. For a firm located inside of another business, that claim seemed a tad fishy.
For Glassdoor, the parallels between what I've experienced and the negative reviews here are unsettling. For example: there is one negative review on here that says the job is just bumming around in a Sam's Club and, funnily enough, this next stage was going to take place at a Sam's Club.
Oh, and don't let me forget the handshake. Both instances, the handshake was incredibly weak on their part, to the point where it felt like the slightest squeeze would crush their hand. By that alone, you could tell they were green at best, or dishonest at worst. This is coming from someone who likes to take the gentle but slightly firm angle for handshakes.
Somehow, I found myself completely disengaged in merely three minutes and I was sure that I wasn't going to get a call back because of that. However, I did get a call back asking me to attend the next step. I agreed and said I could meet the next day at one of their events. I was wary, but still had a glimmer of hope that this was just a particularly odd interview from a decent firm that has budding HR experience.
That was before reading the Glassdoor, though. The reviews from employees particularly sealed the deal for me, and the other interview reviewer sealed the deal. It is odd that handing out stuff in Sam's Club would be considered appropriate for this line of work, huh? I will say they saved me the trouble of wasting more gas and time on this.
Ultimately, this was a waste of time. Driving over an hour to an interview that wound up only being five minutes, then being expected to drive that long the next day to an event that would more than likely take up ten minutes at the slowest? No, thank you. Joke's on me, though, since I didn't read the reviews here before going. Mistakes make for great teachers, as they say.
I apologize if this review seems harsh, but it's how I feel through and through.