Long but informative review of my interview experience at Bounce Outsourcing, London. I thought I might’ve had the wrong end of the stick, but other reviews confirm it wasn’t a one off. Applied for the “events marketing intern” role on LinkedIn. Was contacted almost immediately with an auto generated email inviting me for an interview. Had to move some things around so I wasn’t able to respond straight away. They contacted me several more times via email and text asking me to choose a time for an interview the following day. Looked back at the job description and couldn’t get my head around what the job role actually was. Lots of professional jargon, but little substantial information. Assumed an interview would clear this up so I confirmed a time and made my way to the office the next day. First impressions... Walked past the door twice because it looked quite run down. On entering, I was overwhelmed with incredibly loud pop music playing. Felt like I’d just walked into the Topshop flagship on Oxford Circus. Greeted by the HR manager, who is also the receptionist. Granted, she was friendly and welcoming, but it felt a bit strange that this company didn’t have a dedicated HR team. Interviewees were asked to wear business attire, but most employees were dressed casually. I was seen to half an hour later than my scheduled interview time, and wasn’t made aware that it would be a group interview (there was another candidate being interviewed with me). We were talked AT for a solid 15 minutes. To put it simply, it seemed as though the person interviewing us wanted to confuse us. He was talking fast and looked bored. He wasn’t transparent about the job role or what it would entail. He didn’t ask us any questions about ourselves or our work experience (and we both had relevant experience). His phone kept vibrating on the desk and the interview was interrupted by another employee. It felt like he’d already made his mind up about us before we’d sat down. Finally, he asked if we had any questions. By this point I couldn’t even be bothered to ask him to reiterate the job role because he clearly didn’t want to truthfully disclose. I asked about pay as the job description didn’t state whether it was a salary or expenses based. He looked uncomfortable and annoyed and bluntly responded “it is paid”. I wanted more info but couldn’t get much more out of him. I asked if it was commission based and he again curtly retorted “I didn’t say that”. This was another red flag for me. An employer who isn’t forthright about pay and the job role suggests there are other things being kept from potential employees. Within half an hour of leaving, the other candidate and I both received a rejection email explaining that the decision was “based on a better understanding of your expectations, goals and experiences” and that we weren’t “compatible with what [they] are looking for”. I’m certain they took one look at our CVs and realised they wouldn’t be able to successfully mislead us. All in all, it seems like this company wishes to hire people only to exploit them, with no base salary and only the promise of teaching them skills and the opportunity to progress. If this was a legitimate, paid, genuine role then I see no reason to behave so strangely during our interview. If you are unconvinced, please at least do plenty of research before going for an interview. I should’ve read the other reviews on Glassdoor myself, and if I had, I personally would not have agreed to go. Some advice for the company: Read CVs before inviting candidates for an interview as to not waste anyone’s time. You need to be transparent and honest about the job role, pay and company if you want people to take you seriously. Unpaid internships are illegal. Stop trying to present yourself as something that you’re not.