Background: I discovered Blackbaud when working for a nonprofit who used Raiser's Edge. I'd never heard of it before, but I quickly became impressed. I gained professional certification within a year of my hire date and became the database administrator. All the while, I'd been growing my ties with Blackbaud and becoming a loyal customer - holding fast that we shouldn't even shop around, because [in my opinion] there were no comparable products. Even better, they seemed to sincerely believe that the world would be a better place if good took over. A strong product and a strong sense of corporate social responsibility? Sold!
I applied for a Software Instructor position when it became available. I thought we'd be the perfect fit. I had teaching experience, a Bachelor's degree, professional certification in their product, I participated in the community and more. I met all minimum qualifications, as well as all preferred ones.
After you apply, you submit a HireVue interview. Basic questions, prerecorded videos that give 30 seconds to a minute to prepare each answer. I think about 8 questions in total.
If they like you, they schedule an interview where you get to present to them on one of 3 tech topics. Based on the recruiter's advice, I prepared a presentation which combined PowerPoint, live demo and Q&A. After that, the interview transitions to a more traditional approach. They ask you questions about your background, tell you more about the position and then you get a chance to ask them questions.
Towards the end, they let me know the process was going to move very quickly as training would begin in less than 3 weeks. They said there may be another interview, but within 3 days I had an email requesting references. Admittedly, the email rubbed me the wrong way because it informed me that I needed to have 5 references, including my current supervisor and at least one prior, and I had to have them entered within 24 hours.
But, I knew they were in a hurry, so I obliged. I let my boss know that I was exploring an amazing opportunity. She would be sad to see me go, but knew this was the perfect position for me, so she obliged and gave me a strong reference.
During the reference checking process, they told me I would receive a report showing my average scores [it's a survey-style reference check]. Once all my references completed (all of them even completed within 24 hours), that's when things went south. I reached out to my recruiter to let them know the references were all completed.
Crickets.
I thought they were probably busy, getting ready to go in to a holiday week (a week before Labor Day). So I reach out again the week of Labor Day, not expecting much, especially given that they were in South Carolina during a hurricane. I figure Blackbaud will send out an automated email letting people know the process has been halted or something. I call and leave a voicemail, crickets.
By this point I feel like I should have taken the hint, but it just didn't sit right with me that they would reference check me and then go radio silent, but I thought..maybe my recruiter is out of the office, sick or something serious? So I call the recruitment coordinator, who is friendly enough and we chat about the hurricane. They had a couple of power outages but were by and large spared. After the friendly chit-chat, I told her I haven't been able to get in touch with my recruiter, so she puts me on hold to see if he is available to take my call.
You mean he's in but has just been ignoring me? He asked for my references within 24 hours, saying I had to get a reference from my current supervisor and he couldn't even have the decency to tell me I didn't get the job? That's all I wanted, a simple answer.
She comes back on the line and tells me he is not available but promises he will call by the end of the day. Well, big surprise, but he doesn't. He doesn't the next day, or the day after that.
This is the point when they officially lost me. They talk a big game, but can't even bother following up with strong prospects? I send an email letting them know of my disappointment and letting them know they should pull my application.
Should it come as a surprise - crickets?
I'm sad to say that it's even tainted my view of their product. I'm not interested in working for a company that does business this way. I prefer to do business with organizations who keep their promises, have a strong sense of social responsibility and who have a strong product to back it all up.
We will likely shop for a comparable product when our contract is up.
