Facebook gave me a verbal offer and then took it back.
1. I was initially contacted by an FB recruiter to have a phone interview where we discussed typical experience questions.
2. I was then brought in-house to interview with the GSM finance team (the hiring manager and direct reports). I enjoyed meeting the team as everyone was friendly and seemed like people I wanted to work with. The questions covered FP&A, experience, and situations.
3. I then made it to the next and final round which was with two finance directors. The questions were mainly high level (e.g. where do you want to be in five years, what project are you most proud of, etc.).
4. Several days later, the recruiter called me and told me I got the job! During the call she asked me if I would take the job as we had just gone through weeks of interviews and FB needed someone to take the job. Obviously, I said yes, basically committing myself to FB (I had told the recruiter I had interviews scheduled with other companies, but said I was going to cancel them because I wanted FB). She then proceeded to talk to me about my compensation requirements and asked for two references. Over the next several days she spoke to my references, which the recruiter later told me went well.
5. I wait several days thinking they are putting the offer together. After not hearing anything I contact the recruiter. She tells me that the hiring manager quit out of the blue and that they won't be able to make me a formal offer because the hiring manager's boss doesn't want me to start without a manager in place. This didn't make sense to me. Why not just have me start and learn from the team until a new manager is in place? Or why not tell me I can start once they hire a new manager? Also, when hiring someone you aren't hiring the person solely for the role but because he/she is good for the company and will add value in the long-term, so why take back a verbal offer and why not just let me start? This was an extremely frustrating experience because I had essentially committed to FB once they made me the verbal offer, but apparently FB didn't commit to me. After getting the verbal offer, I also canceled interviews with other companies, told numerous people (family, friends, coworkers) that I got a new job, and even had a celebratory dinner with my friends.
6. FB then wasted my time again by letting me interview for another finance role several weeks later, which I knew wasn't a fit with my experience and knew I wasn't going to get. I ultimately never made it past the first round.
This is feedback on Facebook's recruiting and hiring process. If you make a verbal offer, stick to it. FB may think that a verbal offer is not the same as a formal offer obviously, but in my years of experience as long as the candidate has a good reference check, which I did, the high high majority of the time, a verbal offer turns into a formal offer. And at least personally apologize for putting a candidate through this process instead of sending a generic rejection email.
7. To top it off, I recently learned that the FB recruiter that I had been working with used my name to connect with my friend that works at another company to try to get a strong candidate (that had interviewed at FB but ultimately didn't get the role) who was interested in a finance role at my friend's company, a referral for the role. I guess the FB recruiter wanted to help this person out because FB felt bad that they couldn't give this person an offer at FB.
To all reading I just want to let you know that this is what went down for me while recruiting with Facebook.