I applied for this job through a temp agency ad I found on Indeed.
First, I want to say that one thing I didn't like about this whole process was going through a staffing agency. You are completely isolated from the actual company you are applying for...the only person you can contact is the recruiter, so you never really know what is going on because many times the recruiter doesn't know what's going on and it makes the process very frustrating.
I was contacted by one of the agency's recruiters 1-2 days after submitting my application. The recruiter was friendly and felt I would be a good fit. The Associate Producer role was a 3-5 month temp position, with the possibility to hire, so I was definitely interested.
Once I gave the recruiter the go ahead to forward my info to ESPN, I got a same-day follow-up from the hiring manager, who told the recruiter they were interested in my application, but expressed concern about my lack of experience/interest in sports based on my resume. The recruiter had me write up a response about my sports experience and interest in ESPN.
I was sure I must have failed my explanation about my interest in sports/ESPN because for about a week, I heard nothing. The recruiter said it can take some time for them to decide on candidates to interview. At the beginning of the 2nd week of waiting, I got a call from my recruiter saying ESPN wanted a phone-screen interview for the end of that week.
Day of my phone screen, I never get a call from ESPN because the recruiter had made a mistake by thinking it was a phone-screen interview, when really ESPN wanted me to do an in-person interview! Talk about a big mistake. The recruiter and his team were super embarrassed, but got me rescheduled for a in-person at the beginning of the following week.
I had my interview with the producer I would be working under. He was friendly and very casual. I overall felt really good about the whole process. The questions were pretty standard, and he didn't ask me any difficult sports questions, which was the one thing I was nervous about. He asked me about my job experience, which sports and teams I watched, and about the different ESPN shows. The interview was about 30 min and afterwards he gave me a tour of their studios and offices, and we discussed the job position more. Before parting, he told they should have a decision by beginning of the following week.
I found out 2 weeks later, that they went with another candidate, but I think it was good interview process regardless. Just be prepared and know your knowledge about recent sports events/scores and about the company.
