I applied online. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Salesforce in Aug 2023
Interview
Interview experience was pretty standard of large tech companies: lead recruiter/recruiting coordinator on point to schedule interviews and answer questions. Nothing really out of the ordinary with this except for a few (forgivable) delays. Everyone I interviewed with was extremely pleasant and provided positive feedback to my recruiter. However, this is where the problem arises: after about 6 weeks of interviewing, spread over six interviews, and an intensive take home assignment culminating in an hour-long panel presentation for the final round, I was eliminated from contention with the only feedback being that I didn't have 'enough hands-on experience.' That's a completely fair evaluation that the hiring manager is entitled to have - but my experience was a constant throughout the process. It didn't change, and I feel like this is something that could have been determined in the first one, two, three, four, or even five interviews - but definitely could have been determined before the assignment phase. All in, felt like a huge waste of time and massive effort. A rejection for another reason would have gone over better - but just felt like this could have been avoided and I'm left feeling my time wasn't respected or valued.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you developed a process for how to do something better.
Easy to navigate with help from the recruiter. There were 3 interviews (one recruiter call, one with hiring manager, one with panel team). The process took around a month to go through.
I applied online. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Salesforce
Interview
The process was initially rather smooth. Moved from round to round quickly. Had to prepare a case study for the last round which I presented and got positive feedback. The interviewer said it would take a couple of weeks until I would hear back.
Several weeks past and I heard nothing, after three weeks I reached out to the recruiter, no answer. Did this a couple of times more, no answer. Reached out to a different recruiter who looped in the hiring manager. At this point in time, the process took two months. The hiring manager got in touch with me and said they had a different position for me in mind. Turned out that position was a contractor role. After months of waiting, I did not accept this offer as it would have involved a lot of changes for my private life and I really wanted to be an employee and not an external worker. Overall I was disappointed. My assumption is that if I had not been so persistent in trying to get in touch with them I probably would have been ghosted.