I applied for a position at Meraki London office, I was contacted by a Meraki recruiter in San Francisco I had sent my CV to a week or so earlier. The recruiter was helpful and selected my CV for the next stage which was a video interview from their head office as a first stage screening.
The video interview went well and I was put forward for the the face to face interview at the London office the following week. The office was large open plan office, generally looked like a fun place to work, there was a lot of free food and snacks/drinks at several areas of the office.
Generally on first impressions it looked impressive but I was about to learn that outside looks is not everything.
I met with 4 staff members, instead of me meeting them all at once or meeting 2 at a go they all interviewed me separately in a interview that lasted about 3 hours and 20 minutes.
This I felt was extremely exessice for a interview at a mid level role and frustrating as I missed another planned interview due to take place after this interview at a nearby office.
3 of the staff I met were professional however many questions and what was discussed was not about my actual previous work experience and more about their office culture.
It was a bit shocking as I felt that they were looking for somebody more to create a party like high school environment than somebody who could come in and do a job properly.
1 of the staff members I met was extremely cold and was unprofessional and made nasty comments. She expressed she didn't think the new person should have any assistance in the role as she didn't have any help when she first started at Meraki, was laughing about people that were not able to " last 30 days " and said it was difficult to get people to do basic tasks.
I felt that her behaviour was the complete opposite of what the company and office was trying to portray as a fun open minded environment to work in that is healthy.
I left feeling keen in the position but unsure after hearing these remarks and as if the woman I met want to put me and other candidates off the role or working for this company.
I strongly suspect the woman I met in mid management was power hungry and wanted to keep a controlling high school like environment.
It's sad and shocking a company like this would allow this to happen in the first place and can agree with other reviews here that the mid level management does not seem that experienced
The team seemed very young, all most too young and I can be honest and say this even as a young person my self. I think they need people who are a bit older and more experienced to manager the company.
Once again I felt there was an element of control and they did not want to feel over powered or out thinked which is sad and again is the opposite of what they claim they are looking for.
The criteria was not if you were a strong candidate with experience or education experience but if you could fit into their high school like environment and perhaps not over power or challenge them yet not be too shy and quiet!
Company's like this look great on the outside with all the " fun environment and cool offices " but looks can be deceiving!