Pros:
The initial discussions were engaging. The organisation strongly emphasises its core values, specifically claiming to value "honesty," being "pragmatic," and expecting "straightforward answers" from its team. The vision for the Manila operations initially seemed promising for a senior leader with extensive operational experience.
Cons:
Unfortunately, their internal hiring practices completely contradict their stated core values of honesty and straightforwardness. Candidates are required to navigate a rigorous, multi-stage hiring process. This involves completing written assessments prior to the interview stage. However, despite following up after a week, document tracking showed they did not even open or review the assessment files I submitted.
This was followed by four rounds of interviews, then two face-to-face meetings. After investing significant time in this extensive process for a critical, senior executive role, the recruiter completely ghosted me. I followed up several times regarding the status of my application and received absolute silence. I eventually had to escalate the matter by emailing their Management directly just to get an honest, definitive answer. This lack of basic professional courtesy is entirely unacceptable.
Advice to Management:
If you publicly champion "honesty" and require candidates to be straightforward with "no beating around the bush", your Talent Acquisition team must uphold that exact same standard. Ghosting candidates—especially after rigorous, multi-stage interviews—severely damages your employer brand and signals a lack of internal operational integrity. Research consistently demonstrates that a poorly managed candidate experience, particularly unexplained communication delays and ghosting, significantly increases applicant resentment and harms an organisation's reputation in the broader labour market. Treat all candidates with basic respect, practice the honesty you preach, and close the loop professionally.