I was contacted a few days after submitting my application and asked to do a basic test assignment. I completed that and sent it back the next day. About a week and a half later, I received a response and invitation for an interview. There were basic background questions and others more specific to the role. They said they would be in touch within a few days. I followed up a week later and got a response that they were still working through things on their end but would let me know. Two weeks later, the posting was gone and I never heard back one way or another.

I've interviewed at many places before (big and small companies) and this is by far the most unprofessional interview process I've ever experienced. An editor recently slid into my DMs on Instagram (of all places) to tell me about an opportunity on their beauty team. Long story short, I emailed her to radio silence. Finally gets back to me a week later with a lackadaisical response about how she was on vacation (couldn't you set up an OOO?) and then asks me if I want to set up a phone interview. I send over times to talk, she says she's NOT AVAILABLE actually, and asks me to come into the office instead. At this point, I have absolutely zero idea what the position is or what it entails. I press for details. She asks me when I can come in, I give her times on two separate occasions to which she doesn't respond until too late. At this point, I just tell her flat out I'm not interested in interviewing anymore, because, sorry -- hiring is a two-way street. As the talent you're supposedly trying to "poach," showing that you cannot form the basic functions of your job as a manager (who would be my boss!) or communicate appropriately are the hugest red flags -- this was embarrassing for R29 and it really confirmed for me that all the horrible reviews on here are true. By the way, it is EXTREMELY transparent and management is not fooling anyone with their fake reviews about how wonderful R29 is and "if you're not happy, you're just an entitled person who doesn't appreciate a good opportunity." From an outside perspective, it just goes to show that they're not actually listening to the complaints or trying to fix things from the top down, but hoping to lure more people into their mess. Some advice: if you actually want to lose this idea of R29 being a place for entitled millennial influencers, maybe train your employees on how to act like professional humans who know better. Maybe teach your hiring managers the appropriate ways of interviewing and interacting with potential hires as important talent, not to mention actually giving them training on managerial experience.