Five years back I lost my job on a government contract (worked for the company with the contract). They gave me six weeks notice to find a new job internally on a different contract or to find a new job. I had been thinking about moving on anyways.

But one place stood out for hiring incompetence. It was a local government department. I was more than qualified.

They contacted me quickly to set up an in person interview. I showed up and made it inside.

• Despite having good contact and having filled out the app online they made me fill out another app when I got there.
• The HR contact spent the entire time on their phone, sitting next to me being loud.
• It was the worst office space I had seen in some time. Ancient dingy cubicles after being taken in through an entrance they use for storage is not a good first impression

I got to the interview in a conference room and while I've been on both sides of group interviews, this one was super strange. They went around the table and read questions off of a single piece of paper they passed around and all took notes at the same time. It was so obviously an interview designed by a committee.

I went home and knew I was unlikely to take it. I had already had multiple interviews above the top of their pay scale, two of which I was expecting to hear back from soon.

The cherry on top, a few weeks later I got an email from their HR department.

(paraphrasing) It said they received my application and I would hear from them if I was going to get an interview. It was clearly an initial contact email you would send to everyone that submitted an application.

They were doing things out of order.

That was the last I ever heard from them.

The six weeks lined up with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years and over that time I ended up with three offers. I had a one week gap between jobs, the one job ended like the day after New Years and the next one started a week later. I'm still at the place where I took the job then. It's been a good place to work over the years.