The interview process was far too extensive. I had two separate calls with HR, two separate calls with the hiring manager, a panel interview (which consisted of separately scheduled 45 min calls with each panel member), another 45 min call with another team member, and a presentation to another panel. Despite not being selected, for some reason, my references were contacted (this one really blows my mind). One reference gave me feedback that the call started 5 minutes late, then lasted over 40 minutes, and it felt like they were the ones being interviewed. I had to apologise to my reference for that experience. I spent almost 7 hours sitting in Zoom interview calls and, on top of that, spent between 10-12 hours preparing for the presentation round. Dear reader: I was not applying for a C-suite position, and can confidently say that I have never been so over-interviewed for a position. It seemed like the company didn’t really know what they were looking for and was trying to make up for that by adding more and more and more interviews. The interviewers also couldn’t clearly answer questions like - what is the biggest challenge the role would face in the first 6-12 months, what success in the role would look like on the first year, or what the hiring manger’s leadership style is. Ironically, the answers to all of these questions were different forms of “clear communication”. In summary, a huge amount of my time was wasted, a huge amount of the company’s time was wasted, and (worst of all) my references’ time was wasted.
