Patriot Growth Insurance Services interview questions

Please do not delete this Glassdoor, you have attempted to not allow this post 2 separate times. This is an authentic look into Patriots hiring process that needed to be addressed with Leadership. Original Post - I was initially drawn to Patriot Growth Insurance due to their impressive growth strategy and solid industry reputation. Given their expansion in recent years, I saw them as a promising fit for my next career chapter in Employee Benefits Operations. Over the past year, I applied to multiple roles that aligned closely with my experience and skills. However, in each instance, I received rejections with feedback suggesting other candidates were a closer match, despite the fact that the positions were well within my professional wheelhouse. Recently, I was contacted to discuss the VP of Employee Benefits Operations role, which appeared to align with my background. However, the conversation quickly took an unexpected turn. Instead of discussing my qualifications for the VP role, the HR recruiter seemed to assess me for a lower-level position that wasn’t currently available. In the conversation, he also mentioned that one of the roles I previously applied for was filled by someone who “did not work out,” which left me questioning the alignment between Patriot’s recruitment strategy and its growth objectives. Additionally, the recruiter probed extensively into my personal decision to leave my last role to care for family. The lack of empathy during this line of questioning felt out of step with a culture I would expect to prioritize respect and understanding for personal choices. A candidate’s decision to care for family members should not feel like a red flag. This experience left me questioning whether Patriot’s HR approach is prepared to attract and assess top-level candidates effectively, especially for such a visible position. I hope this feedback helps future candidates prepare for an interview process that may not reflect the clarity or mutual respect they would expect. For an organization that I held in high regard, this experience was a surprising and ultimately disappointing insight.

This was more of a “pre-interview” selection process than a true interview, but I’m inclined to share my story as it would be devastating to someone new to the workforce and was even bothersome to someone who has held several different positions in their career. I applied for this position having most, but not all of the qualifications. This is a pretty standard practice in our society and being in management myself for my current company, I would encourage candidates to do the same. With a strong cover letter and the right interview, I’m happy to cross knowledge gaps when I can so that I’m hiring the right person for the job. Instead of being denied for the job immediately (which I would have preferred after the experience I had), time was set-up to “discuss my experience further”. I felt I was put-down from the very beginning of the phone call. My resumé was ‘confusing’ and I felt like I was incompetent for even applying when I didn’t 100% match the qualifications. I have hired several great people for my team with the same style resumé that I have, so I’m thankful that I’m not as easily confused as the company that was interviewing me. There is a time for constructive criticism and perhaps you could even ask the candidate if they’re looking for help with a resumé, but a screening interview like this one is not the place. I hope the company considers how this looks to potential candidates and understands that it would shut down interest in future opportunities.