I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Sunrun in Apr 2013
Interview
I applied online and received a professional follow-up email from the department director to set up a phone screen. We were able to find a convenient time to talk within 24hrs and had a good exploratory conversation on both sides of the discussions; he feeling out my areas of expertise and weaknesses, me feeling out the culture of his team and the direction he wanted to take the company through adding this role and what I could add to it.
I received a follow-up from the internal recruiter, inviting me for an interview at their SF office. It would be a 2.5 hr interview with several different individuals across the company including a few outside the department but had been at SunRun for a number of years and knew the industry really well.
The interview process was incredibly professional overall. I arrived, signed in, and upon arriving to the floor I was directed to was helped by an employee to see the recruiter. She had a branded folder for me complete with my schedule for the morning, company information, a pen, and recent press releases as well as a bottle of water.
I was handed off quickly from one person to the next. The interviews happened in a variety of meeting rooms and offices across the company, so I was able to see and perceive a wide variety of interaction from marketing team, software engineers, client support, and much more. The floors were an "O" shape around the elevator banks and very open but each team had an intimate space carved out. Everyone was very busy but the energy around the place did feel a little tense and not as fun and jovial as I have experienced visiting some other solar companies in the area.
That said, it was a typical crazy solar startup scene. We got kicked out of a meeting room once to go and find another space to finish a conversation. I got invited to the company's lunch day after that to catch up with a friend I knew who worked there.
Follow ups were handled very professionally as well, most over email, and very promptly- within a few days of my on-site.
It became clear during the conversations that they were trying to put together two skill sets that would be nearly impossible to find, so I suggested they break the role into two. They were very amenable to the suggestion.
In the end, though, we agreed that it didn't feel like it would be the best fit on either side and I pursued a different opportunity.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Asked how I would handle being sexual harassed by someone who worked for one of their installers or a building department official.