I don't usually do this, but when it's necessary - it's necessary.
I'll share with you a rather nightmarish process I went through with this company.
The process began with a phone call from the recruiter. The call lasted about half an hour and beyond the formal introduction, already included behavioral questions.
The continuation of the process, as presented, was "an interview with two product managers, a home assignment and its presentation, an interview with the CTO and/or CEO, and HR again."
Then,I was scheduled for an interview with two product managers in the company - a Zoom interview, standard questions.
after that the recruiter called and said that the next stage is a home assignment. The task is a presentation that I need to present afterwards to the product managers and maybe to the CTO.
Here the red flags started to pop up - the assignment included 4 tasks:
1. Improving a very central and large process that exists in the company in wireframes.
2. Breaking down the process into user stories and prioritization.
3. Breaking down the process into front/back API, etc.
4. Proposing a new feature that would make the central process work automatically.
I was given a week to submit. Although I didn't want to do the task because it felt like exploitation... since I wasn't in any other process, I decided to do it. I finished on time and sent it.
From here, complete silence for a week. After the week, the recruiter called.
I was invited to present the task on
The invitation was set for 3 hours - one hour presentation, one hour CTO, and one hour HR.
A few days after scheduling the presentation, the recruiter called and said that the CTO is not available that day and she's removing the hour with him.
I arrived to present - the lack of professionalism that occurred in that room was embarrassing. It was clear that no one had looked at the home assignment before, and moreover, they asked me questions that I had already answered as part of the task.
After I finished, a random employee approached me and said that HR also can't meet today and they'll contact me.
From 3 hours we went down to one hour.
I figured maybe I didn't pass the presentation stage - but I didn't receive a call, not a generic email, nothing.
About a week after presenting the task, I contacted the recruiter to ask what's happening - and now I was told that I passed and the next interview is with her!
Remember, she was the first and last function in the original process.
The interview lasted about an hour and included all the questions I was asked in the original interview with her.
When I asked "Okay, if I passed the interview with you, what's the next stage?" - "Reliability test, references, CTO interview, and maybe CEO interview" - lo and behold, the process changed again.
Okay, continue waiting - the recruiter calls - "Due to changes in the company and appointment of a new CTO - we're freezing the process. If it becomes relevant, you'll be the first to know."
Conclusions: Listen to your intuitions, and stay away from such companies like fire
