I’ve now had two recruiting calls with this company over the span of 1.5 years - both inbound opportunities via LinkedIn, but with different members of the Recruiting team. Each time, I’ve been struck by the tone and condescension of the interviewer. Despite the fact that they have reached out to me (not vice versa), there’s been a very thick air of “why do you think you’re good enough for Compass and this role?” This has gone so far as the interviewer discrediting my background, belittling tech companies that are smaller and on a different growth trajectory than Compass, and patronizingly telling me to what factors to consider to determine if I’m “ready” for the specific opportunity. There’s a tactful, humble and helpful way to be candid about sizing up a candidate’s fitness for a role — Compass’ Recruiting team just clearly hasn’t found it. I’ve been so put off by this, and the strong implications it has on what company culture must look and feel like, that I’ve had zero appetite to further pursue the opportunity. From conversations with respected industry peers, it sounds like a similar smugness phenomenon happened at Uber during their rapid pre-IPO growth, which ultimately led to culture tanking and strategic senior hires being made to swoop in and “fix it” (with plenty of damage already done and questionable results). Buyer beware.

The interview process began with a request to fill out a mock bio that would be akin to the biographies that staff have on the website, followed by a phone interview and then an in-person interview