Frankly, the Fender hiring process appears to be so deeply broken, I'm actually a wee bit embarrassed that I even attempted to navigate it. The other recent reviews on Glassdoor and elsewhere are, unfortunately, all too accurate: this is not a company that cares about candidates.
From the get-go, the recruiter was unresponsive- after he reached out to me to inquire about my availability, I provided a few options, but it took a full week and two follow-up emails before he even responded. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the norm throughout the process. The next few weeks brought more ignored emails, next steps completely forgotten about, and even an interview just flat-out skipped without any notice or follow-up.
Probably the most puzzling aspect of my experience was the bizarre email the recruiter sent along 3 weeks after ghosting me, ostensibly to apologize for the "lag" but only because he was urged by a co-worker to "close the loop". What the what? Bro, do you even people?
No candidate is the right fit for every company, but EVERY candidate should be treated with some measure of respect and dignity. It's generally a sad state of affairs for a brand that is so very dear to so many of us and it honestly breaks my heart to have had to write this. Unfortunately, this was a flat-out miserable experience for me and it seems like it was not a unique one.
Oh well, at least I'll always have my Starcaster.
