I don't feel this interview story is necessarily a bad one, just a demonstration of how all the glitters is not gold, I guess. This was an interview for a huge tech firm where they sell themselves as being a great place to work, have every perk under the sun for employees etc etc.
I had to submit some samples of my work as part of the application. Stage 1 was a pre-recorded video test, I had to answer questions as they popped up on screen and submit. It was daunting, but I managed it. I then had a pre-screening call with a recruiter. She was an American woman who was the epitome of 'fake nice', very disingenuous but whatever.. I'm ready to play these games to get a job
I was put forward for a Zoom interview with the head of the department, who was quite nice to be fair and I felt we had a good interview. I got feedback from the recruiter that head of department was quite impressed, my answers were good and she wanted me to progress to the next stage. This is where things get intense. I reached stage 3. An in-person series of interviews and a whiteboard test. I had
three back-to-back 45 minute interviews with separate members of the team and let me tell you... it was intense as fuck. and it was
gruelling. I felt there was some aspect of psychological warfare going on too as one member of the team acted as if she personally hated me, another was suspiciously nice (reallllllly encouraging), whilst the other just seemed disinterested and disengaged. My whiteboard test was OK, a bit scary but I'm used to doing them in my chosen field. Following a tour of the campus, I must have been there for a good 4 hours. I was physically and mentally drained after all of this lol.
This whole process all took place over 6 weeks, and I was getting a little bit excited. However, I received an email... exactly a week after the interviews from fake nice recruiter who simply stated she didn't have good news. To be fair, she did follow up with a call and feedback the next day
HOWEVER... I feel after a 6 week process and being told you got to the final hurdle (beating 200+ applicants) only to receive a short email saying "sorry, I don't have good news" would leave a really bad taste in anyone's mouth. You should ring someone and tell them in person first, not be so damn dismissive! This company claims that they care so much about their interview applicants and employees but I kind of got the feeling that nope, it's all smoke and mirrors... its all fake niceties for show.
I've since found employment in a much smaller firm (where I feel valued and respected) and have spoken to a few people who work(ed) in the company that I interviewed for. Most of them will say the perks
are fantastic, but you're worked to the bone and everyone HAS to be 'happy' at all times (like a cult). I guess in the end, it worked out that I didn't get the role because I don't think I'd cope very well in an environment like that lol.