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      Penguin Random House

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      Penguin Random House interviewsPenguin Random House Editor Michael Joseph interviewsPenguin Random House interview


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      Editor Michael Joseph Interview

      4 Nov 2019
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Penguin Random House

      Interview

      The first interview was a fully automated one with no human contact at all. The questions pop up on a screen and you have 60 seconds to read them and prepare your answer, then three minutes to record your response. I really think this is not a good way to recruit staff. Speaking at a camera image of yourself is difficult and disconcerting and made it impossible to answer the questions that would have been no problem if asked by an actual person. I understand that this may be saving time in terms of the interview process, but by the time it's been reviewed etc you may as well have just done a quick phone interview, which gives you the measure of a candidate far better. It's an artificial pressure that will not show the best of most candidates. It's totally different to the pressure you are under in a normal interview or a phone interview. It was a horrible experience and the fact that they did not even bother to send a rejection afterwards made it feel even more like an automated sausage factory. If a role entails working closely with other people, surely it is far better to get the measure of a candidate in person, even via a brief telephone conversation.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Actually cannot remember the specific questions, the experience was that bad
      Answer question
      1