I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at John Lewis & Partners (London, England) in Feb 2019
Interview
I was given a task to complete after applying online. This was before even a phone screening or talking to a real person. The task was creating a product page with their test API, along with optional extras like unit tests and an extra page.
I completed the task and uploaded it as a private repo on Github, and asked the recruiter to give me an email, so I could the share the repo with the person who would be marking it. The recruiter gave me an email for someone who was not registered on Github. After I pointed this out, they asked me to make the repo public so they could see it (I guess they don't use Github there?) I was a bit reluctant to do this, because my colleagues could possibly see the repo and project, but in the end I relented as I have separate work and personal Github account.
Afterwards I was invited to an interview, but I declined because I had received another offer.
Overall a lot of red flags in the interview process:
- A coding task before even speaking to a real person
- Can't/won't use Github
- Very slow to respond, and I had to chase them up
- Inflexible with interview dates, and would not reimburse travel
They were the first company I applied to when I started searching for a job, and I had an job offer by the time they invited me for an interview, this was over a period of two months. I think their recruitment process says a lot, and I don't think they value software engineers much.
Thank you for leaving your review on your interview that took place back in February. We're sorry to see that it was not a positive experience for you on this occasion. Please be assured that we take all feedback seriously and we'll certainly be passing your comments on to the relevant Partners to consider for future reviews on their interview process. We aim to let candidates know their outcomes within a couple of weeks so, we're sorry this did not happen in your instance. Again, thank you for leaving your review and for initial interest in working with the Partnership.