The interview process was pretty perfunctory. There was a screening with a recruiter, an interview with the hiring manager and then a panel interview. After the screening with the hiring manager, I was asked the Monday before Thanksgiving to select a day within that week to interview with the hiring manager. I was traveling as most people usually do so I found it very tactless to request an interview during this time at all. However, I elected to be interviewed Wednesday. I opened the zoom link on time for the interview but the hiring manager arrived 12 minutes late for a 30 minute “personality interview.” After already asking someone to interview last minute during an already inopportune time, the least he could do is arrive on time. He apologized and acknowledged that if the shoe was on the other foot I’d automatically be barred from advancing any further in the interview process. At this point, I knew everything I needed to know about the culture within the team and USAA. Though the job announcement asked for intermediate SQL skills at no point was I asked about SQL or anything remotely technical. I was asked in the panel interview why manhole covers are round, however. Gotta love when the people interviewing you are fully committed to wasting your time at every stage in the process! If nothing else they’re consistent. “Personality interviews” seem like a very toxic way to weed out any candidates that aren’t just like the hiring manager, i.e. white and male. Asking about what someone does in their personal lives to see if they “fit” does not assess anyone’s true skill or abilities and breeds the ever toxic good-ol’-boys club that is apparently alive and well at USAA, at least in any desirable role. I’m sure if I were applying to be an assistant or something requiring no brain power I would’ve been a great fit. Honestly with the questions asked I was unsure how any decision would be made because the questions were very elementary and surface level in nature. Now I know they hire based on whether or not you look the part. It’s pathetic and honestly insulting that these are the people who work for the organization that is USAA. Don’t waste your time.

Scenario based questions of how to break down problems and present material to stakeholders. The interview was 1 hour. It was not a technical interview. There would have been a 2nd round, had a passed.