I came in through a talent acquisition agency, so my experience may be different than for direct hires. Everyone I met was courteous and professional. There were multiple tiers of interviews, including peers in the same category (EA, AA).
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Experience, professional goals, difficult scenarios
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 days. I interviewed at Gensler (Toronto, ON)
Interview
The recruiter emailed me to schedule a phone interview. I responded immediately with my availabilities. The recruiter replied back a day later mentioning the slots she offered earlier are no longer available and offered new time slots. I responded again immediately. I then did not hear back from the recruiter no more.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Gensler in Feb 2022
Interview
Applied online for an LA based EA position.
Contacted for an initial phone screen, then a Zoom with the supporting leader, and a third with an EA and facility coordinator.
As a long-time follower of Gensler and anticipating this opportunity, I found interviewing here to be surprisingly disappointing. The LA hiring team is incredibly rude showcasing the epitome of typical LA snobbery.
During one of my interviews with an EA and another coordinator, at the start of the call the EA barely introduced herself or made eye contact appearing uninterested and too good to be on the call.
While answering questions about my experience, they were actually laughing after my responses--it left me feeling uncomfortable and wondering what was funny? It felt cliquey and toxic.
Also, the EA made reference assuming I wanted the job because working at Gensler may be considered "flashy". But for me, coming from working with another highly reputable A/E/C team, I was genuinely interested in contributing to the work and company and not just for "show". My previous team would also be considered 'flashy' but we were humble; kind, considerate and valued the people that took interest in working for/with us.
It makes sense now why the last person in the role was only there for short time (whom they also spoke bad about during my interview).
The interview process took over one month and after many follow-ups and waiting periods, I was informed the
position was "put on hold". Between my interview experience and dragged out waiting time, that's just a horrible, unempathetic thing to do to candidates. Again all disappointing considering the company's reviews and 'reputation'.
Just a note to all others considering Gensler, there are other firms that do excellent work but that actually have genuinely nice, humbly inviting teams you'd want to collaborate with.