The overall process felt mismanaged and disproportionately demanding. Across several weeks I completed:
An initial HR interview
A C-suite interview
A 300-question assessment (technical and personality)
A detailed, 5-hour-ish take-home task
Follow up on home task
A bar/elevator interview
All of this was initiated via your internal recruiter, who reached out to me directly.
While I appreciate thorough hiring, this was an unusually heavy amount of work for a company that is not well-known and appears to be experiencing declining performance based on publicly available stock and growth data.
Ultimately, I was told I was not progressed due to “lack of leadership experience needed for direct reports” This was surprising, as I was very clear about the scope of my leadership experience in the very first interview. If leadership depth was a crucial requirement, this should have been identified upfront, avoiding unnecessary time and effort on both sides.
Despite the significant work involved, I did not receive meaningful feedback that would help me improve or understand the decision. I also noticed this role has been open for over five months, which may indicate internal misalignment around the profile being sought.
For future candidates, I would suggest reviewing the structure, expectations, and sequencing of the process to ensure it is efficient, fair, and reflective of the role and company.