The recruiter approached me to apply for the position based in London within their research team. After several successful coding and technical interview rounds, I was happy to advance to the final behavioural round. Before the last interview, Niantic even approached my current employer for a reference in a video call. I was happy with the last round. However, it took almost three months and six rounds to determine that I was not the right candidate because of other better candidates. The last two rounds were unnecessary, in my opinion. Speaking to the line manager for a reference wasted his time and exposed me to the risk of losing my current position. I am sorry, but I cannot understand why a company would do that with someone. It is entirely unethical, in my opinion. I feel terribly sad about the whole experience. I suggest cautiously approaching Niantic Research (London) due to the lack of ethics and HR policies.

Ghosting after scheduling the interview at preliminary stages. This has happened twice for same position in two different intances. First time, I got a reply from niantic recruiter asking to schdule for first round of basic introduction interview. I had submitted my availability but the interviewer for some reason didn't bother to join or respond after that. Second time I at least got chance to connect at first exploratory interview and was informed to expect first round of tech interviews in following week. But then again no further response or updates. One can only wonder what's happening? But I ain't gonna bother for next time!