Where to start?
I was interviewed over the phone three or four times before I was brought on-site for my final interview. The majority of the telephone interviews were conducted by individuals in similar roles to the one I was being considered for. Questions were typically straightforward, they asked me about my job history, my goals, and quizzed me to determine my technical background.
The last interview, on the other hand, was much more “interesting”. I think I was interviewed by 5 or 6 individuals from various departments within the company. Some had familiarity with the role I was recruiting for; others did not. Questions asked of me were all over the spectrum. I got questions about my technical background, my management background, my hobbies, and my family. On the up side, I did learn a lot about the mindset of the company. On the down side I don’t think this was their intent. My marathon interview took something in the neighborhood of 5 hours to complete. It might have been less but it sure seemed longer. By the end of the interview I was mentally exhausted.
In hindsight, I think this was the first company I’ve spoken to who seemed to make hiring decisions by committee. I suspect this to be the case since one of the interviewers told me that I had to pass all of these interviews to be considered for an offer. Another interviewer commented that this company was, in his words, “a millennial company”. Based on my best guess of the average ages of the people I saw in their office I would tend to believe this to be the case. Another interviewer mentioned that the CEO tends to prefer hiring leaders with Ivy League credentials. Another interviewer mentioned that the company was considering a move of their facility to another location. And the most surprising comment made to me during the interview, an interviewer told me that his role in the process was to try to trip me up.
All in all, the interview was quite informative of the company and how they chose to operate at a strategic level. As I left the interview, my first thought was that this company was likely not a good fit for me. The individuals I spoke to seemed to have a lot of drive and motivation towards their individual roles. It just did not seem like their overarching corporate goals were possible with a “fraternity” mindset at the upper echelons of the company.
A day or two later, a HR representative from Axon reached out to me to let me know that they would not be selecting me for the role. Honestly this was not a surprise to me, and to a degree, I felt a sense of relief.
We thank you for your time and participation in our interview process, and we appreciate you writing this review. We apologize for your negative experience and take your perspective very seriously. Thank you again for the time you spent to write this and we wish you the best in your next endeavor.
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