My first round was a digital interview. This consisted of about five questions to which I had to video record my answers. This was my first time interviewing in such a format, and I found it to be a bit awkward, but I managed to complete the interview and was invited to a Zoom interview with the job owner.
What I remember most about the Equinix interview process was the second round, and what the interviewer said to me at the end of the interview. I will never forget this, and in fact the statement was so memorable that I wrote it down as soon as the interview ended. He said, "you won't fit in at the company if you have sharp elbows. We have a very collaborative culture." He then mentioned that most of the leadership had been at the company for years, many over a decade.
I was taken aback by this statement and didn't really understand where it came from. I have thought back to the interview many times, but I don't think it is possible that I would have said anything to warrant such a warning. The one thing it did harken back to was the experience of an old mentor of mine who was female and passed over for a C Suite job because she had "sharp elbows." A man got the job instead.
After the interview, I went onto Equinix's website to take a look at their management team. It came as no surprise to me that they do not have any women of color in their leadership. They only have two women on their management team at all, both white, who make up a dismal 18% of their leadership. More than 50% of their management team is both white and male. This information was pertinent as the interviewer was a white male, and I am neither white nor male.
While I do not believe the actions of one individual are 100% consistent with the culture and beliefs of an entire company, the statement made during the interview turned me off from ever working at this company, and not just because I thought the statement was rude. And so, I would like to say this to the HR team at Equinix.
1. Internal promotions are an inherently biased process which result in a relatively uniform workforce, not just from the perspective of age, gender, and race, but also personality. This makes the workplace less fun and dynamic, and can result in companies being less successful and innovative.
2. Saying that you rely on internal promotions and then having a very undiverse C Suite proves to candidates that you will not value them unless you fit within a certain demographic.
3. The fact that your management team are made up of internal hires and that you have a "collaborative culture" is not always a selling point. The newer generation isn't all here to spend our entire careers getting lunch for the C Suite so that we can get to that shiny corner office in 30 years. We actually want to learn and contribute now. Sometimes that might mean being bold and controversial. Some of us view that as adding value, not "having sharp elbows."
4. Finally, while this one person may not have been representative of the entire company, at the end of the day any interviewer does represent the firm. I'm not going to assume intent on behalf of the interviewer, but what he said in the context of the circumstances I've explained above certainly left a bad taste. The fact that this interviewer felt emboldened enough to say this during an interview speaks volumes. I think at the very least some sensitivity training for anyone managing talent at your company would maybe be helpful.