The interview process was long. I had two phone screens before a three-hour long in-person interview. In general, the in-person interview was a very positive experience. Prior to the interview I spoke with a recruiter (one of three recruiters that I spoke to throughout the interview process) who told me that I would hear back within a week.
However, after the interview concluded the managers that I would be working under told me that I would actually hear back in three-four weeks, which was a totally different message that I got from the recruiting team.
So three weeks came and went and I didn't hear anything. Then four weeks came, and a completely separate recruiter contacted me to introduce herself and check in. This was confusing to me because we had actually already spoke on the phone for thirty minutes on the phone a couple of weeks prior. That phone interview was set up because I had additional questions for one of the managers that I spoke with after a phone interview which she did not let me ask her directly through e-mail. This left me feeling very strange. I asked myself if I wanted to work for a company that doesn't let you speak directly to your potential future manager? Also, the fact that the recruiter introduced herself to me after we had already spoke on the phone gave me the feeling that they were talking to so many candidates for this role that they couldn't keep them straight.
After this "check-in" e-mail, she sent another one the following week essentially saying the same thing:
- We're still really excited about you!
- What is your timeline?
- Do you have any questions?
Now we're at the 5-week mark since my interview, in which I was told I would hear back within one week (or within 3-4 weeks, depending on who you talk to).
Finally, the following week (week 6) the same recruiter calls me and essentially asks all of the same questions that she asked from the first two e-mails. Then she went into a very vague explanation about how "things are getting reprioritized" and "they aren't sure where this role is heading"....
Needless to say, I was frustrated. She said that she would get back to me by Wednesday of the following week. She e-mailed me late Thursday afternoon to tell me that they reprioritized which roles they needed to fill and that this role was put on hold indefinitely. But don't worry, they would reach out in the future and let me know when the role is open again and maybe I would get an offer!
This entire interview process leads me to believe that Flatiron is unorganized and that the various moving parts do not talk to each other. I received many conflicting messages on timeline from the recruiting team versus the management. I was not allowed to reach out to the manager that interviewed me and instead was passed along to a recruiter to answer the questions, even though the manager told me that I could reach out to her with questions. My candidacy was followed by one recruiter for half of the process and then a separate recruiter (the one that e-mailed me introducing herself despite the fact that we talked on the phone before) for the second half.
Lastly, I was supposed to be reimbursed for my travel expenses and I had to follow up with the recruiters on three separate occasions to finally submit my expenses.
I used to work in my university's career office and their rule of thumb was to look at how a company treats you during the interview process to understand how they will treat you as an employee.