After submitting my online application I was offered to move to the next phase of the interview process which consisted of a 3 question writing sample. It was warned that due to the extensive amount of research to be done for each question, the total amount of time I would need was estimated at around 1.5-2 hours in length. I was given a spread sheet of information to use and after edits and review, my writing sample was complete after 3 hours. Everything seemed straight forward and I was very pleased with my answers. Within a 4 day time span I was contacted again by the hiring manager to schedule an interview. I scheduled it for 2 weeks later and was told I would be sent several Zoom links. The hiring manager described the process as a panel interview, however I would be meeting with each member of the Care Navigation team individually. May 31st hits and I had not yet received any links, so I reached out to the hiring manager on a holiday and she sent the links right away. Even though she originally forgot, I felt that she was pleased I reached out and was excited to meet me face to face. Now I was prepared, I had all 7 links, and was mentally coming to grips that I had a 15 group session, one 5 minute break, one 15 minute break and 6 individual interviews with each member of the team. All of this was new to me since this was my first interview during the Pandemic. All in all after meeting with all 6 individuals, the virtual interview lasted a total of 2 hours. The first individual I spoke to seemed reasonable as she touched on environment and culture which I can speak to naturally, and I liked how they were interested in my views on diversity. Moving to my second panel interviewer I was shocked. I right away felt attacked and felt I was most definitely being screened for racism. This was apparent when I was asked "What are your opinions in regards to Black Lives Matter?" This company, like many up and coming company's around the country pride themselves on diversity and inclusion, as do I as an individual. The question, however did not pertain to diversity, in fact, there were no specific questions pertaining to diversity in the two hours I was being interviewed. I was consistently asked my thoughts on different scenarios regarding the LGBTQ+ community, whether it was through a scenario inside a previous work place or in the capacity of my future position.
I believe through the 3 hours I spent on my writing sample, I proved plenty that I am all in on Carrot Fertility's mission, which is families for all. Within the two hours I spent being attacked and judged based on my view points, that in no way pertained to the position I was interviewing for, I do not believe Carrot Fertility's Care Navigation team interviewed me in a fair or honest way. I felt I was led on the entire interview as each person I spoke with used phrases like "you will be", "you will see", making me feel like I essentially received the job. The reason for me most upset is that after going though this entire process, I received an email 2 days later saying that I was "not the right fit for the position". When I did decide to reply and ask for crucial feedback that would help me going forward in my career path... no response. Take this for what it is, and if you have the time and energy to go through with this process be my guest because the company as a whole sounds amazing, but as far as what they are looking for in their future employees is beyond me.
