Starts with a phone call with Talent Acquisition, then a phone call interview with the hiring manager, then 6 more interviews (video).
Talent Acquisition came off really nice… He explained the process, mentioned that the company values authenticity and that they prefer to hear situations where you failed but learned/could’ve done better (remember this part that I wrote) as opposed to having everything perfect all the time and always getting it right.
He stated that they strongly go by, “REMEMBER THE HUMAN, FEEDBACK IS A GIFT” in which they provide feedback to candidates on how they did or what they needed to improve if things aren’t a good fit—so that candidates aren’t left clueless on what they need to work on moving forward (basically selling Reddit as this lovely company that genuinely cares and is so different from how other companies go about their interview process) while also mentioning that they value receiving feedback.
He stated they absolutely hate egos and it’s not tolerated within the company, which I love because I cannot stand working with egotistical individuals who abuse their title. He stated to prepare for these interviews as if you’re going to client meetings.
He explained the interview process will start with a phone call with the hiring manager, then if I make it to the next round, I would receive a prompt/case study that I will have 3 days to prepare for and will need to present in a 30-minute panel interview with four people. The first 5 mins would be to introduce myself, next 10-15 mins presenting, and the remaining time for the 4 people to ask me questions (but you manage the time, they don’t tell you when to stop. So if you don’t leave enough time for them to ask questions, you can already predict you’re not making it to the next round due to poor time management skills). If you make it through, you will then have 1:1 30 minute interviews with each person from the panel interview (4). Then it will conclude with one last interview with the hiring manager, again.
In total, inclusive of the initial talent acquisition call, it would be 8 30-minute interviews.
First off, this is absolutely absurd. Though they made this clear in the beginning, it should never take this many interviews to hire someone. This alone counters the, “REMEMBER THE HUMAN” portion of what they go by, because this process is so strenuous and drawn out — especially when candidates are interviewing elsewhere and have too much to prepare for. These companies do not care about mental health because the interviewing process alone is inconsiderate of the candidates. It shouldn’t take no more than 4 interviews to know if someone is the right fit (interesting that he also mentioned they “know” after the panel interview), so I applaud every company that has a max of 4 interviews and gets straight to the point with their questions to narrow down top candidates.
I then had a 30-min phone call interview with the hiring manager. I will say I sensed potentially being racially profiled from the start of the call by the way he had asked me one question in particular to further get to know my personal background. Something just didn’t feel right to me, almost like I felt I knew his mind was made up prior to asking me the interview questions. Yet, after I would reply to each question, he would say something like, “that’s awesome” or “that was a great response.” And then he quickly made sure to end the call right at 30-mins. It could have simply been because he had set up another call at that time, but something didn’t feel right to me.
This is the part that baffled me. I hadn’t heard anything for a week. I reached out to Talent Acquisition for an update, and within a few hours that’s when I was hit with “I gathered feedback from the hiring team” (emphasizing HE GATHERED FEEDBACK) and stated, “it was an extremely competitive candidate pool and they have decided not to move forward with my candidacy.” In my reply email, I included asking if he could share the feedback he gathered (because did he not say REMEMBER THE HUMAN, FEEDBACK IS A GIFT?).
This is the best part. I have email-open notifications for all of my emails. So whenever it’s opened and read, I know. He opened the email immediately and never replied… The End.
I’m SO sick of companies misleading candidates and not providing the feedback.
Safe to say my intuition seemed to be right about my call with the hiring manager, and if I’m wrong, well then, “Remember the human, feedback is a gift.” And I’m completely disgusted on how quickly it went from “Remember the human” to “I was just upselling Reddit to you.”
And please, to the talent acquisition and hiring manager, if you have an idea of who this is, do not contact me to try to figure out if you’re right and “make things right” or “apologize.” You know how you went about things, and apologizing after this feedback will not resolve anything. Take this as a lesson learned and how you can improve moving forward.
