Initial application - Sent CV and brief cover letter in, I was then invited to an interview with a representative. It was informal, and just a general overview about the company and myself and my background. The rep seemed to be a little off-putting, their behaviour was not that welcoming in my opinion. They were also late to my interview by five minutes which is appaling.
Going forward, I was invited to another interview with one creative strategist from the UK and two from Canada. Before this bearing in mind, they requested I do two tasks. Fair enough they said not to spend a lot of time on it to get some design insight, But during the interview when I was presenting, it felt rather pointless doing the task. The feedback was very vague and I didn't understand the point of myself talking through it, when it was already sent over to the team.
Forwarding over a week later, no response. I reached out to the original representative that I had my first interview with and she stated that the rejection email was in 'outbox'? Firstly, I find that highly unprofessional that a representative lacks the general awareness about sending out rejection emails. Secondly, the feedback upon rejection was apparently lacking "advanced strategic skillset and client-facing" - This baffled me as I already had 2 interviews outlining my skills and a whole walkthrough with a design piece I spent ample time on for the company.
I reached out to the representative, who gave me an answer of "lack of advertising specific experience and ability to communicate with clients". I think this feedback is incredibly offensive considering that the hiring representative would've looked at a CV and checked if someone had the relevant advertising experience, and furthermore to state someone lacked the ability to communicate is an unprofessional response - Interviews aren't done in silence guys. This feedback was useless, and sounded like such a poor excuse for something they should've cracked in the first interview.
I am actually incredibly glad that I did not get this job, from initial overview cold interview to the last response. StackAdapt are clearly not professional or respectful in their interview process. They also really need to put effort into how they sift candidates and have a better grasp of communication considering they don't know how to relay information on time (The rep didn't even apologise for something which was part of her job...). To future candidates especially designers, honestly, don't waste your time for the tasks especially with the offensive feedback like above - it's rather laughable.