Referred by a colleague who previously worked with the Director for Talent Acquisition; I was immediately invited in for an onsite interview. Prior to, I spent time researching Twitter's platform, technical staff, search patterns, etc.
Tele-communication (calling from the outside in) is an ongoing issue; you won't be able to call into Twitter to speak with an internal staff person if you need to confirm directions, your arrival time, traffic pile-ups, etc.--I encountered two driving from the South Bay into the City at 2pm!! This was frustrating as the coordinating staff's information for BART/parking was incomplete at best.
I arrive for the interview running behind schedule, just as the coordinator is actually calling me on my cell phone as I walk into the building...ironic. She explained, they have 'no phones' at their desks and that there was a problem with the phone at the front desk....???? What's up with that???
The interviewers consisted of two engineers who asked about sourcing and offer guidelines, two recruiters who asked standard recruiting/sourcing questions (boolean strings, sites used, etc.), and the Director. I spoke with the Director, then the recruiters (my total time investment was FIVE and a quarter hours--an hour and a quarter driving up, two and a half hours onsite, and one and a half hours in return traffic).
The Director immediately shoots 'technical engineering type questions' -- even though I know the answers I'm completely caught off guard and thinking to myself, why the heck is he asking me about 'Software life cycle', 'what is object oriented design'...??? Then another more appropriate recruiting question; 'You have 90 days and unlimited budget to recruit 100 engineers, without which the company will fail; what do you do? -- answered accordingly.
When I interviewed with the recruiters, as their side of the interview draws to a close they ask if I have any questions. I'm very curious about how technically astute each of them is, so I ask them individually to please explain the 'software life cycle' .... their answers were incorrect/skewed.
Overall the interview seemed to go well with positive feedback from each interviewer -- the Director ended by saying....'we all know how it is to be on the waiting end so I assure you that will not be the case. I have my notes and we'll be debriefing and get back to you by the end of the week.' That's an indirect quote but not far from actual content. I sent 'Thank You' notes and follow-up emails. That was the absolute LAST I ever heard from Twitter.
Hypothetically -- You have a candidate referred by a "personal colleague", coming to your San Francisco office from the South Bay, sends you a 'Thank You' note and follow-up notes -- never mind the cold-shoulder the candidate gets, but refusal to acknowledge that FIVE AND A QUARTER hours out of that candidate's time/life warrants no acknowledgement or is less valuable than yours!!, well that's just a plain ugly candidate experience.
My initial reluctance to share this experience was because I thought it was a fluke/an individual experience--the world's largest micro blog can't possibly be so irresponsible in closing the loop with candidates--particularly onsite candidate...? I've since learned from internal Twitter ppl as well as others who have interviewed, this is par for the course. Great tool...poor practices.