Had a frustrating experience with J&J. Sharing in hope to help others.
Just wanted to share my experience to help anyone else who might be in a similar situation. This may be an isolated case but felt it was worth flagging.
I applied for a Technical Writer contract role at J&J Limerick in early July. Within 24 hours I was screened and told my application had been forwarded to the hiring manager. The recruiter was extremely enthusiastic, emphasising how perfect I would be for the role and how strongly they felt I matched the requirements (I genuinely did match every single requirement listed as well as previous experience with j&j).
Shortly after I was informed they would like to interview me and was asked to keep my availability open.
What followed was nearly four weeks of chasing with no interview date ever confirmed. During this time the hiring manager was on annual leave, the recruiter went on annual leave, and I was passed between multiple contacts. I was repeatedly told they would follow up and that the role was urgent.
I had a competing job offer during this period which I stupidly made decisions around based on the understanding that this process was progressing.
After nearly four weeks I was finally told the position had been closed and they had decided not to proceed with interviews. The reason given for the delay was a concern about my commute despite the role being hybrid and my home being less than 50 minutes from the site.
No interview ever took place. No clear explanation was given.
If you are applying for roles through this process just be aware that timelines can be extremely unclear and I would caution against making any major decisions based on the progress of your application.