I reached out to Alberto (CEO) directly on Linkedin and he was super quick to get a call set up. He walked me through the product they're building and team they're assembling. After the first stage I was invited to do a design challenge — Which I completed a few days later and sent over email. He took a few days to get back but sent a full review/feedback on my task which was helpful, and to progress to the final stage included 2 more design tasks (I think that is too many) - Because of the time needed for tasks (I am working full time still), I ended up getting a different offer from another company in the meantime.

My first contact with V7 after applying was a short introductory call with someone on the Product team who appeared to be playing a recruitment role for the position. The call was a bit scattergun: they gave me an intro to the company and a demo of one of the product features. They also asked a variety of questions including what my favourite product was and got me to quickly talk about a project. When I asked specific questions about the role of design at V7 their answers were vague but they reassured me that the next step (speaking to their designer) would help clarify some points. All of this was a 30 minute call. I was told that they already had some candidates who were quite far along the process and so they wanted to line up the next steps ASAP which I found encouraging in some respects but also quite rushed and pressurised. My next call was with their existing, sole designer. They told me about their previous background as a PM and how they had moved into a Design role. I walked them through a case study of my work to which they responded very positively. When it came to answering my questions, I found their answers to be somewhat incoherent and off-topic. Especially when it came to explaining the role of design at the company and what certain processes looked like. It was clear this person is extremely stretched in their role and I got the impression V7 were hiring to help them out and relieve some of the pressure. The interviewer stressed that the CEO is very design-minded and that the company valued design. This is contradicted by the fact that there is no design leadership at the company and the sole designer doesn't appear to be afforded what they need to do their job properly. The next stage was a 3 part take-home activity. It is commonly accepted that take-home activities when hiring design roles are a contentious subject on grounds of inclusivity, among other reasons. I flagged my hesitance with the recruiter but agreed to look at the task. The task at V7 was asking a lot of candidates - among many steps it even involved watching the candidate design a high fidelity component live on the call. Almost no background was provided in the brief and none of it was time boxed. I sent some clarifying questions about the task and its motivations to the recruiter and made clear that I was trying to ensure they were running the process fairly and inclusively before committing to my own participation. Their response was to not answer any of my questions and instead tell me that the role was not right for me - I can only assume this was because I had challenged the take-home task and how it had been designed. Although no further reason was given. Having spent many years hiring high performing designers myself, it is clear that V7 is not interested in designers who challenge thinking and processes - no matter how constructively. The lack of design leadership and experience is evident and worrying. Based on my experience, I would not expect my experience or expertise as a designer to be valued or encouraged at V7. I would be extremely wary about applying for a design role here.