Long process from paper sift to interview,had initial HR interview then one webex with hiring manager that would then lead to a face to face interview if successful;it wasn’t clear what the format/expectations were at this stage and i felt it was a bit confused with the conversation less about me and more of a probe into my previous employers workings. To be honest i thought this stage was confused and limited in value (from my perspective).
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Meraki (San Francisco, CA) in Oct 2017
Interview
The procees was smooth. A recruiter contact me via linkedin and set up the interview in about 3 weeks. had 3 different interviews, one phone and 2 face to face
I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Meraki (Sydney) in Nov 2018
Interview
I applied through LinkedIn. The process took 2 weeks but I waited for the result for nearly 2 months!
Initial call with the recruiter then followed by an offer for 2 days of in-person interviews. Day 1, 2 individual interviews with the Sales Managers, Day 2, individual interview with the Senior Sales Director then followed by a video conference with another Sales Manager. The experience till this stage was pleasant, very nice people and I had the recognition from most of the interviewers as I was told. Then the nightmares began.
As I was leaving the Day 2 interview, I was informed that I might need another round of interview with the Sales Director based in Sydney, expecting for further instruction. 2 weeks passed, heard nothing from them and I decided to do a follow up with the recruiter twice but no response. Another week later, I wrote a message to the Sales Manager I had the interview with to check on my application status and he was kind enough to reply to me and wanted to schedule a call for a quick follow up but it was never eventuated.
5 weeks passed, still heard nothing from them and I decided to write them constructive feedback of the hiring process. I then received a call from the recruiter 2 days later and was told they decided to go ahead with one of the internal candidates instead and I was blamed for not being patient and went to follow up with the Sales Manager in regards to my application instead of the recruiter. Clearly, I was not happy with the way they treated a candidate with radio silence and poor communication. Only found out the result by "harassing" them persistently which speaks poorly of Meraki's communication and hiring process.
It's such a shame that a good company like Meraki with great products to offer but red-flagged in the way of external candidates with such poor communication and false expectations as to the interview process provided.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What's the biggest challenge and how you handled it?