Clear and transparent. Until it wasn’t. Made it through the initial phone interview and work sample. After I submitted the work sample, I didn’t hear back for 2 weeks. I received an email asking for my availability over the next 3 days and got scheduled for a follow up interview the next day. In their follow up email they also asked for rather odd information in case they wanted to process my application for a final offer, which I thought odd since there were still 3 interview stages left per the interview doc they gave me. Also, some of the questions were very strange like asking for my high school graduation date. However, they canceled my interview an hour before the meeting sending me an email saying there was unforeseen circumstances. They also later messaged me that they closed the search, which was a whiplash as the day before they were asking for my references. After reviewing the job description, there were a few red flags which concerned me that there is very little operational structure at this organization such as having operations manager coordinate payroll compliance and state labor regulations. Overall, I got the impression they aren’t very organized and rather chaotic.

I applied in early February 2024. On March 26th, I was invited to a 30-minute phone screening with a member of HR. It went well, I was excited for the next steps. At the end of that phone screening, I was told that the hiring manager was tending to a "personal emergency" so the process was taking longer than normal (hence the nearly two months since my application submission to first real contact) and that if they wished to move me forward they would reach out within 3-5 weeks. Come May 1st, I still had not heard back so I reached out only to realize the HR rep I had been working with had been fired. A week later, another HR rep sent me an assessment with a deadline of 3 days from the date of the email to complete. The assessment included two parts: 1. A Google Form questionnaire and 2. a scenario requiring me to create a Google Sheet with quarterly operational data. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to carve out the time necessary to complete the assessment (instructions stated it would take 2 hours) until just a few hours before the deadline. However, upon attempting to start the assignment I became aware that I hadn't been granted viewing access and therefore was not able to complete it. It's just a bit frustrating that I had been waiting for information for over three months at this point, hadn't been given a new contact to work with or any updates after internal staffing changes that affected the interviewing process, and then given a lengthy assessment with little time to complete it - it feels like there was no consideration of my time (prior commitments such as my current job, family care, etc.) I've completed assessments for interviews plenty of times before, however, typically a full week is given to complete them. I will say, that they did offer to send a $50 gift card for completing the assessment, so it's nice that they attempted to compensate the interviewee's time in that way, but I rather be given an equitable amount of time to complete the task. I do feel like this is probably a fine team to work for once you're in, but the disorganization and lack of regard for interviewees feels like a red flag, so I chose to withdraw my application.