I really thought this opportunity was it since I had made it to the Final Interview stage but I was incredibly disappointed when I was told I didn't get it because they felt that my character was not assertive and they were concerned about my ability to "take charge" with building processes and driving change. I've managed Accounting teams in the past, led financial audits and have collaborated cross-functionally with other teams which have included building internal controls and process improvements. This process was very long (over a month when their website says only two weeks). The process included a recruiter screen, hiring manager call, take home challenge, a presentation of the take home challenge, and a final interview loop. My final interview included the CEO and I felt like he wasn't interested. He showed up late, replied with "awesome" to all of my answers, and decided he didn't want to answer my last question and left the call early. Something tells me there was a bias and I think their metrics in assessing a candidate's qualifications needs to be improved. I'm rating this experience as neutral because I still had a pleasure working with the recruiter because she was very nice, incredibly responsive and transparent. The hiring manager was very nice as well and I thought we would have made a great team.

I had a great experience interviewing with Smartcar. I was looking for a company where I could grow my operational and technical accounting knowledge, and I came across Smartcar on Welcome to the Jungle. The job posting included the hiring manager’s LinkedIn contact, so I reached out directly to express my interest. The hiring manager has their CPA so that was a huge factor for me in pursuit of my own. They were very accommodating in moving the process along quickly, which I appreciated. Smartcar is a small company (fewer than 50 employees), and their interview process was structured yet flexible. There were 5-6 total interview rounds over about two weeks: (1) Initial conversation with the hiring manager; (2) Meeting with the Talent Acquisition partner; (3) Take-home accounting challenge; (4); Presentation of the challenge to the hiring manager and CEO/co-founder; (5) Behavioral interviews with the People and Sales Ops teams Although this could have been a lengthy process, the team was very accommodating in scheduling and communicating with me. The HM and TA partner were very responsive. I was given four days to complete the take-home challenge, which I found to be a well-designed and highly relevant exercise for the role. The interviews themselves were a balanced mix of technical and behavioral questions, covering areas like month-end close, process automation on lean teams, and past challenges in my own growth and general accounting experience. Ultimately, the only reason I withdrew from the process because I ended up accepted a consulting role that I really wanted, and I was just a bit further along in that process. However, I was genuinely impressed by the team’s friendliness, knowledge, and professionalism. I have no doubt Smartcar would be a great place to work, and I would highly recommend interviewing here to other candidates!