I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Gusto (San Francisco, CA) in Jun 2015
Interview
I applied online and received an email a week later to schedule a phone screening. I responded the same day and did not get a response back so I followed up with the recruiting coordinator after 3 days. She got in touch with me almost immediately and scheduled a phone screening 6 days away. The day of, she let me know she was sick and scheduled me for a phone screening 4 days away. So in total, it took 13 days to get a phone screening...
Anyway, phone screening went well. She was really nice over the phone and she asked general questions (why ZenPayroll, why this position, why are you looking to move). She let me know that I would be invited to the next step of the process which was the video interview. I was asked 5 questions, three of which they already asked (why ZenPayroll, tell us about yourself, what are you most proud of) and two questions about past experience (tell us a time you planned something, tell us a time you had to meet a deadline) which they could have easily asked during the phone screening.
Talking to a video is extremely awkward and some of the questions require more than a minute to answer them. I don't get why they asked repeated questions and it made me question who was reviewing my application. I didn't hear back after a week so I followed up yet again with the recruiting coordinator to ask about my application status. She didn't responded to my email but sent a separate email a couple of hours later with a generic automated response letting me know they were going with other applicants.
Overall, the experience felt very impersonal and for a company that preaches transparency, they were not transparent at all during the interviewing process. I get that they're extremely busy with hiring a bunch of people this year but communicate with your applicants better. The generic automated response really left a bad taste in my mouth versus taking the extra two minutes to formulate a personally respond to my email or hey at least, changing the first sentence of the automated response.
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. We're sorry for how impersonal your interview was—this is absolutely something we try to avoid. We use the video system so that multiple interviewers can review and provide their feedback, as opposed to just the one person involved in a phone interview, but we recognize that it isn't a perfect system. Your response has been recorded and will help us develop our interview training program as we move forward.
Regards,
Recruiting @ ZenPayroll
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Gusto (San Francisco, CA) in Dec 2014
Interview
Easy-going but still challenging. Very positive experience...felt welcomed immediately. Long interview process but once you get there you understand why- they want to hire the best of the best. This was actually the best interview process I had ever been to, mainly because I felt like the interviewing process was fair and relevant. There wasn't any frills, they want to test whether you can actually get the job done or not.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about the last time you received amazing customer service.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Gusto in Apr 2015
Interview
The interview process was three very unique rounds. 1.) One way interview in which you video record yourself answering a series of questions (This was challenging, but a great learning experience). 2.) Take home assignment. 3.) In person/remote interview with a variety of people. The first two steps were all very independent with only email exchanges between the potential employer. These steps were hard work, but because the company values matched that of my own so the delivery felt comfortable. The in person interview was a great experience of really getting to know the current employees, the job functions and work environment. It really felt like a conversation not an interrogation. Everyone was all smiles :-)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time you experienced exceptional customer service.