I am so confused.
I am interviewing for a new position. I made it through a phone interview, where we discussed the position and the skills required, and it went well. I was invited to a second round asynchronous, survey-style interview. It was extremely long and took 3 hours, resulting in 9 pages of input... but ok, makes sense, they wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about.
I passed that round, and now I'm on to round 3, which is a 3rd party quiz style skills test. I generally don't like these because I find that the questions are too rigid and specifically in terms of tech, are out of date. But I went in and did the test... to make a universal comparison, it's like they asked me in round 1 if I knew how to drive an automatic vehicle on a sunny day, then came out with a manual monster truck rally in the mud. The questions were FAR more advanced than the role and skills we discussed. I have no doubt I did poorly. A few of the sections I didn't even finish because the timer ran out.
I feel disheartened and embarrassed. Before going into this assessment, I felt like I was an extremely good fit [based on my conversation with their HR person and the job description]. I would not have agreed to continue the interview process, as it is a waste of both my time and theirs.
I did sent a three sentence email to my HR contact letting them know I had finished the assessment but that I had concerns. I thanked her and repeated my interest in the role as it had been described.
I'm just feeling so off balance. After so much time invested, I might lose this opportunity because of an automated assessment that doesn't match the skills in the job posting. Is this how things are done at larger companies? I've traditionally worked for much smaller mom&pop employers, and this is the first time I've had to do a 3rd party assessment for a role.
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Anonymous
Yes thanks to the advent of automation and most companies not spending to hire great talent teams who actually know how to properly interview this is becoming the norm. Don't beat yourself up about it if it doesn't pan out clearly their culture is not a fit for you. I once interviewed for a major company that was on the upswing and was a unicorn at the time. They put me through 5 months of nonsense like that after recruiting me ( I was not an applicant) and then at the end stage they basically tried to tell me my small company experience wasn't quite right and then I wrote a rebuttal to the head of the department telling them off in a professional non-confrontational way. They loved it! and offered me the job. It was the worst company I worked for in my whole career (yes, I was dumb enough to accept the job after all that) and realized 2 quarters in that their culture and style of working was just like their interview process, a mess. Now their stock is trading as junk stock so I dodged the bullet by quitting 6 months in....Good luck and find a place that treats you with professional respect and such during the interview process because that is what you will get after joining.
Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist
I am so sorry this is the candidate experience you had.
First off, there's nothing for you to feel embarrassed about. Personally, I hate those asynchronous interviews. Refused to do them as a candidate, won't use them as a recruiter.
You don't mention what you do - is this the typical interview process for your space? Did you know what the interview process would look like?
If you're not already doing so, I would start asking what the rest of the interview process will look like going forward. That way you can decide if you want to invest so much time and effort.
I know it's hard, but one thing I recommend to candidates is that they not become too emotionally invested - for their own mental health. The job search process these days is a marathon, not a sprint. Be enthusiastic, yes but do your best and let it go. Because that's all you can do. If you feel you didn't do your best, learn from that and do better next time. But please don't beat yourself up.
I work for a large global company and worked for one of the largest companies on the planet before that. At both, interviews were conducted over the phone or on Microsoft Teams before typically an on-site visit for the last round.
After receiving this treatment, I would think long and hard about if you would want to work for a company that treats their applicants like this. This is when they should be putting their best foot forward, trying to impress you. What if that IS their best? Imagine what it might be like to work there.
You never know, they may still come back to you with an offer. The only one who should feel embarrassed in this story is them - not you.
Anonymous
I'm a senior bookkeeper... think all the facets of an A/P clerk, A/R clerk, payroll administrator, and assistant to the CFO in one package. The role is mid level experience and I am well qualified on every other line item in their job description... but I have the growing suspicion that they're looking for a CPA... which if that *is* what they're doing, they're grossly underpaying for that level of experience. I don't do taxes, and never claimed I did. I also explicitly stated that I have extensive experience in the specific hardware they're using for their financials... and then 80% of their questions had to do with creating custom dashboards and accounting by hand (like pen and paper accounting... which I am EXTREMELY rusty on. Very, very few people do pen and paper accounting anymore).
I think you're right. I'll have to think hard about an offer, if it comes (so far I seem to have completely fallen off their radar after being in contact every day).
I'm trying not to get too emotionally invested, but as you know, it is VERY hard. They advertised a 5 star benefit package and remote flex time, which is pretty much my unicorn set up right now for many reasons. It's hard to have this one get away too. And I've been searching for 4 months now. It's exhausting. I got far quickly with this... it feels like I slammed into a brick wall.