(Specific position titles are withheld in the interest of anonymity. I believe a company should be evaluated as a whole and not individually, as very rarely decisions and overall organizational responsibility is down to one person.)
The interview process consisted of an initial screening by an external recruiter, who provided some generic information about the role and company.
This was followed by an interview with an internal recruiter who corroborated the conclusions of the previous interview, by giving more information on the vision and mission of the company.
This was followed by an interview with a technical lead, who provided more technically-oriented information on their tech stack, how they structure their work, and the type of individual and skills they are after.
I was then invited to an interview with the CTO, who was able to provide a product roadmap, and explain the general vision and mission of the company.
I was then asked to complete a technical take-home assessment (THA) where I could showcase my image processing, Python, C++, and CI/CD skills. I quite enjoyed that part, even though it took longer than I would ideally have liked, as I wanted to do a good job on it.
I was then invited to a deep tech interview session with the technical team, where
1) I had to present my background, why I chose to apply to this position, and what I could bring to the role,
2) the team conducted a review of my THA, and
3) I was asked to solve a mathematical puzzle.
Overall, the THA content was relevant and the technical interview was very well conducted. Τhe technical assessment was well structured and a good experience.
I was then invited to an interview with another member of the recruitment team.
After that, I was interviewed by the CEO. This one was by far the most unstructured interview of all, and it became apparent to me that the CEO had not reviewed my CV/background prior to meeting with me. A disappointment given that everyone in this process had already spent a tremendous amount of time and energy.
After a few days' wait, I decided to request some feedback from the company, as I hadn't heard anything from them. Eventually, the external recruiter informed me that, to his surprise, the company weren't going to place an offer. When I asked him why, he said that they were looking for someone with significantly more experience. Not being satisfied with the lack of detail in his response, I decided to contact the internal recruiter, who was happy to have a video call to discuss the matter. He explained to me that even though the technical team verbatim said that my THA was "top-shelf", and that I would fit very well into the team culture, unfortunately the company board decided to halt hiring. The reason? They apparently needed to hire more senior software engineers in order to assess the skills gaps and formulate a new hiring plan based on those.
Needless to say that I thank the internal recruiter for his decency and willingness to provide honest feedback.
However, after 6 interviews, 1 take-home assessment (which was not reimbursed), and approximately 2 months, I was left with a bad feeling in my gut.
This entire situation to me indicates a lack of organization, direction, and waste of resources. Companies must respect not only the interviewing candidates, but also their own employees who put so much effort into the interview process. My advice to the company is: do not waste valuable time and resources, both within and outside the company.
