I found Zapier's interview process to be thorough and well thought out, and they were really communicative with me. For me, steps were: 1. Recruiter screen 2. Hiring manager interview 3. Take-home (2.5 hour limit) 4. Take home review w/ 2 engineers 5. Systems design 6. "Bar raiser" interview with Director and CPTO 7. References 8. Offers Two things I found a little odd: there wasn't great clarity on exactly what position I was interviewing for, and also they ask for references before the offer as opposed to making a contingent offer which is a little strange.

The process started normally enough: a recruiter screen, then a call with the hiring manager. After that they sent a two-hour take-home assignment, followed by a review session with a few engineers. I put real effort into the take-home and felt good about it. I completed the assignment and also created a separate fork to explore some more advanced concepts. The review itself went well. One of the engineers and I clicked, and at the end they even gave me their email and encouraged me to reach out if I had follow-up questions. That left me with the impression that things were moving forward. Then everything went quiet. Weeks passed with no updates. I reached out to HR for an update and when they finally replied, the explanation was vague and didn’t align with any of the feedback I’d received during the process. After that, I looked more closely at Glassdoor and noticed a pattern: candidates describing similar interview loops that ended in “not offered.” That’s when it hit me that I’d likely spent a significant amount of time and energy on a process that was never going anywhere. Unfortunately, Zapier is in an era where they get in their own way, with an extremely poor hiring rate. It’s not because they are not interviewing first-class candidates, it’s because their over-regulated process does not allow them to successfully recognize that they are. This over complicated calibration leads to a tiny, if not non-existent, window for success. As an engineer working for Zapier and required to interview dozens of valid candidates without hiring them, I would be extremely frustrated. Now as a candidate I check companies on glass door and if all the recent interviews say “not offered” I don’t waste my time.