The original title of the position was listed as "Player Experience Support Specialist," but the contents remained the same. After doing a lot of research and reviewing the job posting, I consulted with a friend who was able to submit my application as a referral. I received an e-mail from a recruiter a few days later inviting me to a Google Hangouts interview with two Rioters online later in the week. At the time of the interview, I received a phone call from Riot instead of the Hangouts invitation I was waiting on. The Rioter who interviewed me introduced himself by his name and title, what he does, and that his colleague (hiring manager) would not be attending the call. The interview was quite easy. I thought it was mostly for a culture fit as we talked a lot about Riot Games and why I wanted to work for them, video games I played, and the reasons for my educational and career choices. I followed up with a few questions about working at Riot and a few random things that were just for fun. I felt happy and enthused after it was over. After 4 days, I was notified by e-mail from the hiring manager that they weren't going to move forward with my candidacy and that I should have specific experience with instructional design to be considered for this role. Realizing this was a courtesy interview, I think I would have had a much more positive experience had I been treated like a potential candidate. I also don't find that my interview related to the 5 pillars of Riot's manifesto at all. At the very least, the hiring manager could have at least made her presence in the interview and actually asked questions about my past experiences. Even if it wasn't entirely applicable, I would have really appreciated a personable and professional conversation on ways to "bolster my profile." In retrospect, I think there are/were a lot of layers of ambiguity within the job description itself. It can be quite misleading to interpret. My own personal suggestion is that if you want to be cut-and-dry with certain things like job titles and years exp, then it should be explicitly stated beforehand.

The interview process was very long and challenging. I stumbled upon this job position in late July, and I recently got the final decision in mid October. When I applied for this job, I quickly received an email from a recruiter, and began the process. I prepared for the interview, and did some research here on Glassdoor about previous interview experiences. I saw that there were two negative reviews about the application not being detailed enough, and the interview process being unpleasant. I had my first interview with the hiring manager. The manager was intelligent and friendly, and we really hit it off. We talked about the basics of adult learning, some general methodologies, and training and learning techniques. It went well and I proceeded to my second interview with two Riot team members. The second interview was more focused on culture and how I felt about the player experience. I've been playing leagues for years and follow the LCS, so we hit it off, I proceeded to the next round. The third interview was a bit scattered. It was last minute - and the interviewer was not prepared. He was really nice and we had a good conversation, but nothing new was communicated or learned. I received an email the next day with the instructions for my assignment to show my instructional design chops. It was one real sentence description - find a topic you're passionate about and make a guide for trainers to use. Got it, I do this at my work every day. I was excited to get started. I spent a few hours a night for a week working on producing a PowerPoint slide deck. My first feedback was from the original hiring manager, and she liked it in some ways, and there were some places where she could see improvement. I explained that I appreciate the feedback, and in such a creative learning job, I work best with my current team when we are all bouncing ideas off each other. Collaboration makes great work! She suggested that I had a bit too much on the content, and gave me a few slides to cut down. My final interview was coming, the interview with a senior Rioter, who would ultimately approve Riot flying me out for my on-site visit. We talked, it went well. I walked him through the materials I created, told him my background, spoke about learning objectives at Riot and their plans for the future in the field. Everything went nicely - until he started asking me why I didn't clearly state a few items in the material. In fact, these items did exist in the material, but I removed them upon hiring manager 1's request. It was a small negative side, but I didn't think it was a deal breaker. My final contact with Riot was with Hiring Manager 1, and they broke the bad news to me. My work wasn't sufficient enough, and they are looking for someone more "senior" in the role, and believed I was entry level. When we went over the reasons why, Hiring Manager 1 asked me why I had made an extensive PowerPoint when it could have been just on word. I explained that I write the previous step of the process on word, and convert it to PowerPoint for storyboard. She then told me that this entire time, my idea of the test description and hers were incorrect, and that it showed I didn't understand instructional design. I was in no place to argue - my application was already denied. I can say that when she was explaining to me in more detail about the assignment, and I realized that this entire time she wanted me to make a more simplified version closer to a synopsis or even proposal stage, it made my heart sink. She told me that it seemed I had fundamentally misunderstood and proved I was not skilled enough. I left the process ultimately feeling like an outside that the team was looking around to each other with crooked faces thinking, "Ehhhh..should we let him in? Maybe?...Ehhhh no...". I was told that Riot was looking for the Rioter first, and then the position - as the position can be improved and developed over time. I was told my culture side was good, but I lacked the skills. So much for improving with the team, together... It was pleasant for much of the interview, and I believe (and still do believe) I was a great fit for the position. I was feeling inspired every day, thinking about my potential future at Riot. I had ideas for learning journeys, ways to implement them, working with this new and exciting team at a company I love... I simply wish they had given me at least a final follow-up to write this type of explanation, but that's not how the world works. I think I would apply again in the future...but the process was exhausting and ultimately painful, so I will continue to learn and grow as a professional before I reapply.