Set up for failure before you begin. From the moment of introduction they introduced themselves as xx and have been with the company for x amount of years, then proceeded to wait for me to do the same which put me in an awkward position as I had nothing to say apart from my name (I haven't worked for company for x amount of years) so there was an awkward silence. Online numeracy test, then 1st interview was a data analysis task that had been pre set. Interview was meant to be 30 mins and based on the data that had been pre set, which I had prepared for as this was the whole interview was about / what they had stated that this interview would be about. When I joined the interview, I was told that we'd only be speaking 5 minutes about the task set. Which threw me off as i had prepared extensively for this task to be told they would only go through for 5 minutes of 30. I was also asked questions that were impossible to answer I.e. what would my day to day be like working at Merkle. Which was utter nonsense as it is impossible for me to know what I would be physically doing for a role at a company I have never worked for. It seems the previous interview process had applicants create a PowerPoint on "what is paid social?" But they have seemed to switch up the interview process and have not given any thought into changing their questions to fit their new tasks given. From the moment I joined the interview, it seems as I was set up for failure, as they could see I knew what I was doing but they were more concerned whether I knew what paid social was by definition than if I could actually do the job. So for any future applicants, save your time just research what is paid social regardless of the task they give because they don't care if you know the stuff they just want to know if you know definition of words not how you'd use them.

The worst interview experience I've ever had! (Please read to the end) The interview consisted of 3 stages : 1. video interview (30 mins - 8-9 questions); 2. face to face interview at Merkle office with 2 hiring managers 3. presentation to the brief to 2 hiring managers (different from the previous round). I had such a bad interview experience at/ after the final stage, that I put Merkle Periscopix in my blacklist of companies not to apply to. After the first 2 stages going pretty fast and smooth, the HR was insistent on the final stage to happen as soon as possible (Thursday), so that the decision is made on Friday, with first work day starting on Monday. The dates were not ideal for me as I had my trip to the US almost clashing with the final stage, and was flying back on Wednesday, arriving in London early Thursday morning (8 hrs before the interview). I was very interested in the opportunity and took my laptop with me on the trip to make sure I put together a top notch presentation on Nintendo (used my previous knowledge in paid social, research on gaming market and trends etc., industry specific subscription only resource WARC, even went to the high street Nintendo shop in NYC for recent info/ pics/ chat with the shop assistants). As can be expected, I arrived in London on Thursday morning heavily jet lagged and asked HR if it was at all possible to move the interview to Friday, to only hear they understood my circumstances, but considering the tight deadline, Thursday afternoon was the only option. So I came in on Thursday with my objectively brilliant presentation and did my absolute best (presenting and answering all the questions they had for me). At the end, one of the interviewees took my Passport and Bank Statement (proof of address) to make photocopies and said they will be in touch tomorrow (considering the start day was Monday). Guess what, I haven't heard from anyone on Friday or Monday. I had to write to them 3 times to finally hear back only on Wednesday (!) - a generic "we decided to proceed with other applicants who more closely fit our needs at this time... We aim to provide feedback within 2 weeks. " (of course, they never did). After making me jump through so many hoops (for an entry job, that I was over-qualified for), taking copies of my passport and bank statement, they couldn't even provide a proper feedback?! The people involved in my final stage interview should be ashamed of their collectively poor practices.