I was scheduled for a “video interview” for my first interview (I did not have a phone screening). I figured I would be meeting with one person, that I would be asked standard first-round interview questions, and that I would be allowed to ask about the job, since I had not been given any specifics and the job post didn’t mention the basics like time commitment or salary. I showed up on Zoom and was ambushed by a team of at least 6 people, all of whom round-robin interviewed me for over an hour with very difficult questions when I didn’t even know what the job was. It was advertised as a “writing and copyediting” job, but many of the interview questions grilled me on marketing experience, even though marketing was not listed anywhere in the job description. The interview went well past 5 pm and the manager made the entire team stay on the call so I could ask my questions at the very end, which felt incredibly awkward and made me think the manager didn’t value the team’s time.
I was then made to do at least three hours of writing “homework” due in 48 hours. Then I didn’t hear back for six weeks, after which point I followed up to ask for feedback. They apologized and said they thought they had emailed me, but they’d given the job to an internal candidate.
It has been a few years since I did this interview, and I still think about it. I hope they have adjusted their interview process.
