received a response from my application about 3 weeks after I applied. I was asked to confirm times that would work for a phone interview with an HR representative. After a few days passed I followed up to see if the times worked. After another week the HR rep finally got back to me asking again for additional times for the next week. Finally met with the HR rep 6 weeks after I applied. Two weeks later I went through the same process to schedule a meeting with the hiring manager. Finally there was a case study interview with the hiring manager and CS Director.

Interview was with the recruiter whom I received emails from. I could tell I was either on speaker or others were present during my interview yet no introductions were made from those individuals. It was pleasant with typical information going over benefits, mission and the position. At the end of the initial interview they asked me about my compensation requirements. I advised I would want this to be competitive and inline with the industry (which can widely vary, broad response to her question). I then asked if the company believes in pay transparency and if they could share the range of the pay allocated to this role. I was told “no” they do not provide range of pay as they want to ensure it’s a good fit so in order not to remove myself from the interview I then provided and told them the lowest I would accept and was advised this is in line with the role. I didn’t provide my ideal compensation as both of us can “see if this is going to be a good fit” as they said and see if they caught on to my statement of lowest I would accept and see if when an offer is made if that’s what they would offer or if they would see the value I bring and offer a higher amount. They do want quarterly travel to their headquarters which I think is a great idea and more companies should do this. Seeing headquarters can show a company was company life is like at the source, allow for further networking vs remote. Kudos to wanting this for your employees. Next steps are a 30 min zoom meeting with the hiring manager, then receive a case study and create a presentation. I asked what the expectation of the presentation would be and was told I would have a couple days to review and complete a presentation. When pressed for time they expect to work on a presentation is 1 hour. 1 hour of free work for a company that doesn’t want to be open about pay and setting expectations on next steps seems like they don’t value my time, but value me as a potential addition to their organization. I’m getting red flags of a relationship that is more 1 way than a partnership. I get the presentation though, working with 20-30 of their enterprise clients they want to control their brand/reputation and insure they don’t put someone in a role that could leave them embarrassed. I also get they can’t really compensate for this but sending a swag box (client products/swag) with the case study is a great way to thank the applicant for their time and show value.