I was first contacted by a recruiter through LinkedIn via employee referral on February 28th. I was thoroughly excited to hear from Palantir, as I have heard the usual things about the perks of working there. My enthusiasm quickly wore off after a week of disorganized recruiting. I was setup to phone screen with a recruiter. I spoke to her for 45min (considered for Mission Specialist) and it went well. I then received an email from a different recruiter regarding a different position I was being considered for (SRT Analyst). I had to re-screen with another recruiter for 30min, went well again. After these phone screens, I was scheduled for a phone interview. I spoke to a young guy for 30-45min, went pretty well. Scheduled for a 2nd phone interview, 30-45min, went pretty well. Both interviews were high-to-mid level questions, nothing too difficult. I then received an invite to on-site interviews in Palo Alto.
Palantir flew me out to Palo Alto for on-site interviews on Friday, April 19th starting at 1pm. I had 4 phone interviews, 2 of which were video conference (employees back in VA/NYC), 1 phone interview (with whom I had already phone interviewed with), and 1 in-person (again, with someone whom I had already phone interviewed with). The interviewers all asked the same questions (Why Palantir, why this position, current job, questions about Palantir/this position, etc.), so I had to repeat my answers 3-4 times and continue to elaborate on things I already elaborated on. I had 1 phone interview, then sat in on a product demo, but was called out by the recruiter for the video conference interviews, then taken over to a new location for an in-person. I was originally told I'd have 5 interviews, but the recruiting coordinator said the last person was unavailable, and I was sent on my way at 4pm (no founders interview, no t-shirt, nothing). I received my rejection call from someone in McLean on Tuesday, April 23rd.
In total, over 40 emails exchanged, at least 2-3 rescheduled times (due to interviewer getting stuck on site, etc.), and 2 months of my time/their money spent. I would normally understand and accept rejection, but the hiring process was unnecessarily dragged out. The positive parts of the process: the recruiters and interviewers were all very friendly, the free trip to Palo Alto, and that all interviews were able to be scheduled on PDT, so I didn't waste time during my current job (except taking Friday off to fly out).