A Frustrating, One-Sided, and Outdated Application Process.
The application process for the Head of Talent Management role at Canonical was the most one-sided and time-consuming experiences I have ever encountered. It consisted of multiple rounds of written questions, followed by an online test—without a single human interaction. It is astonishing how much time is demanded from applicants without offering anything in return.
Many of the questions felt outdated, especially for someone with 18+ years of professional experience. For instance, being asked, “What leadership role did you take in school/university?”—along with multiple follow-up questions about school and university—felt completely irrelevant at this stage in my career.
Given this inefficient and impersonal approach, it’s no surprise that Canonical’s hiring process receives consistently low ratings on Glassdoor. More concerning, however, is the company’s overall Glassdoor rating of just 3.4. Despite being told via email that Canonical receives 80,000 applications per year, numerous positions remain unfilled in comparison to the total number of employees. This raises the question: how effective is this selection process if it results in so much wasted time for applicants while failing to fill open roles?
The lack of transparency, personal engagement, and respect for candidates suggests a company culture that prioritizes its own ego over efficiency and fairness. If this is how candidates are treated during the hiring process, I can only imagine what the employee experience must be like.