When I saw the listing, I'll admit it was pretty vague in regards to job description and no salary was listed (not unusual) but I went ahead and applied anyway. I was contacted a few hours after applying and an interview was set up and was told there would be a "30-minute observe" but was given no specifics. Anticipating a rigorous test of sorts (I've worked for a number of major IT companies) I wasn't sure what sort of observation would take place. On the day of the interview, I arrived early and immediately had my doubts that this would be a good fit. The location is in a tougher area of North Charleston, their space is in a strip mall, and the person interviewing me was about 15 minutes late. First up was the "observe" which immediately told me why the company details were so vague and hard to nail down on their website. Synter is a collections call center so I had to endure 30 minutes of listening to a poor woman call number after number, trying to collect on outstanding invoices. I was pretty stunned at first but then somewhat amused as I knew without a doubt this company was not for me. She was very kind but it was awful to watch and certainly worse for her to endure everyday. I was tempted to walk out (I'd taken time off for this interview) but then decided to give it my best for practice sake only. I was also quite curious how much they would pay, given my salary expectations were 60-80K, which is what a Project Coordinator position pays and actually less than what I currently make as a PM. The actual interview was a joke. I met with two managers who proceeded to ask me about my background and project management experience. I'm sure it was obvious to them as well, given my background and experience, that I was seriously overqualified but I played along and used the time to practice since I tend to be a nervous interviewer. When no information was given about the actual role, I asked for details and was reluctantly told it would literally be a cold call position verifying potential clients' information and trying to establish rapport for a sales opportunity. So not project coordination. At all. The final phase was to have me go to another room and complete a formal application on their website, provide them with my salary history, references, and contacts for all previous managers. What was interesting was that while no salary expectations were listed on the site I applied to or during the interview, their site listed the range as 25K-28K! I literally laughed out loud. I wasn't about to waste any more of my time so I left at that point, without completing the application.

I was called to interview for a "project coordinator" position. When I arrived, I was placed at a desk with a current employee so I could listen in while she made calls to collect on freight bills. 30 minutes later, I was taken to the HR office where I asked if that was what I had applied for. The HR person asked what I meant and I said I applied for a project coordinator position. He asked what project coordinator meant to me and I told him that it did not mean bill collecting (I did that 20 years ago and it was not for me). He shrugged and said that was what he had available . I said "thanks," shook his hand and walked out of an interview for the first time in my life.