I was genuinely excited to interview at Anthropic and thrilled to make it to the final panel stage. I admire the company’s mission and values, and everyone I spoke with was kind and clearly talented. However, the overall interview experience left a lot to be desired.
The process lacked structure and transparency. I never had an initial call with a recruiter, which is quite unusual, and as a result, I received very little information about the role or what to expect. My first conversation was a short 20-minute call with the hiring manager. While I was told there would be a follow-up with the same manager, I was instead moved directly into the next rounds with a team member and then a panel—without much clarity on what the role actually entailed.
In total, I spent about 7 hours in interviews across multiple rounds. While most of the interviewers were friendly, there were moments that detracted from the experience. One interviewer was yawning throughout our conversation (I hope i wasn't too boring!), and another briefly had background audio turned on—likely by accident—but it was distracting nonetheless. The business case I was asked to solve had no clear connection to the role or the job description.
Anthropic has an awesome mission and a great team, but if you're truly human-centered, it starts with your recruiting process.