First spoke with someone in recruiting, who seemed a little distracted throughout the initial call.
Then spoke with the hiring manager who, like another person mentioned, was mostly hidden off-camera with just her head peeking above the screen. While nice enough, something seemed off about her the entire time. She also insisted that the company was "recession-proof" and layoffs weren't something employees really needed to worry about there. I was then asked to do a project, which she loved, then asked to do another version of it, which she also loved. They loved it so much they actually ended up using my work (and provided payment); they provided it to their PR agency, who sent it to a third-party publication, who published it. I was then scheduled to meet with someone higher up.
He seemed like he wanted to be the quirky oddball, to be the interview that stands out for being unconventional and "original," when in reality it was just eccentric and bizarre and more about him than the role or the team. He gave off a very strange vibe and seemed to expect the interviewee to drive the conversation, almost as though part of the test was in seeing if they asked the right questions of him, rather than the other way around. There was a lot of "What else do you want to know? About me, about the company..." rather than digging into my work history, experience, or knowledge. He came across as more concerned with getting to know me as a person, but by making me do the heavy lifting in the conversation. So it didn't feel authentic — it just felt like a test.
Finished by interviewing with two other team members, who, while nice, asked me very little about my experience and didn't offer much in the way of who they were, how long they'd been with the company, what they did there, or what they were looking for in their teammate. Everything they did say was surface-level and provided little insight into their day-to-day work and, more importantly, how I'd be collaborating daily with them. One of them had their camera off the whole time and somehow didn't realize it until the last couple of minutes. They were low-energy and seemed borderline uninterested in the discussion, which didn't last more than 20 minutes. They seemed like they wanted to test whether I was a good culture fit with them, but that was the extent of their curiosity. I actually walked away from that conversation convinced they didn't care for me, given their reactions, save for a brief moment at the end where we got some laughs out of each other.
It took so long to hear back from the hiring manager that I finally had to check in with her for an update. I was made an offer and accepted the role, only to have SureCo lay me off two months later, claiming I wasn't a good fit even despite their month-long interview process in which that should've been thoroughly assessed, as well as the multi-step, lengthy writing project they made me do (which, again, they paid me for AND let their PR team use). The leads I interviewed with turned out to be exceptionally unprofessional, the team stretched way too thin, goals and focus constantly changing (even from what I was told Content's focus would be during the interview), and the content marketing function nothing to write home about despite the hiring manager having many months in the role under her belt. (The phrase "no one reads our content anyway" isn't what you want to hear from the person who's supposed to be in charge of ensuring our content gets read.)
For anyone else interviewing for this role (it's currently open again), approach this interview and company with EXTREME caution. If it feels off, that's because it is. Trust your gut on this one.
