I'm an experienced candidate who has worked at Fortune 100 tech companies. I recognize that start-ups are working with different resources and goals. Regardless, my interview experience was problematic. Here are a few of the red flags: - Received multiple incorrect emails from recruiting team about scheduling and taking personality tests I'd already taken for them. Not a big deal, but frustrating. - Did not speak with any women across 4 interviews. - Was drilled on my knowledge of the company (including an uncomfortable on-the-spot "role play") rather than my relevant experience. - All zoom interviews were recorded, which I was not told about in advance (found out just as I was joining), which disrupted the power dynamic in the meeting and made me uncomfortable. - One interviewer refused to be available during working hours. I wanted to show my flexibility, so I took a meeting at 8pm (even though I work within the job description's approved time zone). Unsurprisingly, it was not my finest interview. - All of my interviews ran over the allotted time. - The title and description of the role changed midway through the interview process. No one explained or informed me, I just noticed it on the interview invitation and then the website. - I did not meet with the people I was told I'd meet with in the beginning. - They mentioned several times that they'd had trouble hiring for the Director of Operations role, and they all seemed really anxious about filling the role with the perfect person. They clearly had been burned somehow, and it was reflected in the aggressive questions. - After my last interview, I reached out to 2 different members of the recruiting team, but I received no response about my candidacy. So, I got ghosted, after all that. On the positive side, one interviewer (former Amazon leader) asked behavioral interview questions and had a dialogue with me. It was the only interview that felt challenging but comfortable. He had only been at the company for a few days. The others, who had been there for years, clearly lacked interview training, made some HR slip-ups, and likely did not get the information they needed out of the interview since they spent a lot of the time talking instead of asking questions. If I hear back from the organization, I will be opting out of future interviews. These are red flags to me, plus the founder's weird LinkedIn posts and the other reviews on Glassdoor are enough signs to me that this is not the right fit for me. Take note if you are interviewing!
