The interview process was around 3 weeks. It consisted of 4 parts first a screening with a recruiter, second an interview with the hiring manager, then a 3 part exercise you had 2 business days to complete and a final interview with the senior manager who oversees the whole department. The exercise I completed was a bit time consuming and consisted of responding to a proposal request, writing a newsletter for internal communications and a slide for an internal meeting about one topic. Resources were given to complete the assignment, and despite the time commitment it was fun to do for me. The final interview after completing the assignment consisted of an exercise where you ordered a list of tasks by priority and then explaining the way that typically they would do things as an organization. I think doing a take home assignment then using the final interview for another exercise was a bit of a missed opportunity, not the best use of a final interview and not really worth a department head's time either. While the interviewers throughout the process were pleasant it really didn't feel that they had any direction or sense of who they were looking for beyond qualifications which for this role are pretty cut and dry. It also seemed extremely scripted at many points, and the interviewers seemed tired. I was left not really knowing if they valued me or how I was viewed by them which isn't the greatest feeling and again not a constructive use of time when you're interviewing multiple places. The big area of improvement for Carrot and the team working on this role is setting and managing expectations throughout. It was said by multiple people that they were looking to move quickly, that they urgently need someone, and I even squeezed in an interview prior to Thanksgiving due to that timeline which is difficult while working full time. Despite that, I did not hear for over 2 weeks after my final interview, even after sending several follow ups asking for an update. If there is none, that's perfectly okay, but it's common courtesy to at least reach out and it's an even worse look when all I've heard is how urgently they need to fill this role. I only heard back after I received a generic email with a survey (still not having heard from the recruiter herself) to rate my experience. The lack of response and blatant ignoring of follow ups was what I pointed to in my survey and only then did I receive an actual follow up from the recruiter. Put simply the pay is not high enough for this interview process to be so complex, and beyond that I didn't get a good sense of what they were actually looking for. As this role is still open and has been for many months, even though it's described as an urgent need, it seems they really don't know what they're looking for either. At a certain point for a job that's almost entry level, you might just want to give someone a chance at a job that's very niche. My advice to others is to ask specific questions on timeline, and my advice to Carrot is to consider developing a more professional way of handling candidates specifically on the recruiter side. It's hard to find another job all the while working full time, or if you were unemployed, and do the assignments given and complete four rounds then to get ghosted. Responding isn't too big of an uplift for someone whose entire job is to work with and help candidates through the process and make them feel valued.