Thinking back, I should have ran when I heard they let go a current employee for "not having what it takes" and deciding after the final interview with the candidate prior to me also didn't "have what it takes" - Please take a guess what happened after I went through (what I would consider) 5 interviews? I, too, didn't have the skills they were looking for!
Start to finish, it took about 5 weeks.
Interview 1 - With a recruiter, to ensure I had the background and personality to fit with the team.
Interview 2 - Met with hiring manager, who was to the point, asked good questions, had an open dialogue & even touched on the fact that they were pleasantly surprised how well the leaders came together. This interview put my mind at ease after seeing such poor reviews from both interviewee's and current/former employees.
"Interview" 3/Assessment - This is where I should have stopped; however, I love overcoming obstacles, so I proceeded. The feedback was great - I not only caught almost everything that was planted into the spreadsheets, but I fixed it items they hadn't even thought of.
Then, I spoke with the recruiter and was transparent that I was no longer interested in a hybrid role. Before Crawford was told about me pulling myself from candidacy, they came back and offered a more flexible schedule that only required a few days in office a month, for meetings, etc. I figured between their willingness to be flexible and the positive feedback on the assessment, I would proceed.
Interview 4 - Multiple parts to this interview! And this is where it gets very shaky. First up was a Case Study, which was a packet of papers, with 2 "Questions" pages and I had around 30 minutes to complete. Great, I start on the first half of the Case Study and although I wasn't very familiar with the industry, I start making notes. My goal was to get through as much as I could thoroughly, rather than rushing through and providing partial answers. However, when the interviewer came back into the room, the 2nd "Questions" page was an error - the additional information needed to effectively answer the rest of the questions was in what I understood to be the 2nd Case Study. We worked that out - I was going to take it home and work over the weekend on it! Secondly, I met with another VP who I was told would likely focus on why I wanted to work there, why them, the personality questions. However, that is where the interview turned. It was a lot of the same question, it several different ways. I started to get overly nervous and second guessing myself. However, once their part of the interview was over, I was back on my game. Last meeting of the day, where the flow was great! I felt very confident and appreciated the thoughtful questions. I was walked out and we discussed next steps, just needed to finish up the case study so they could get a better understanding of my thought process, etc. Overall, I left feeling really great, despite the mid-interview slump.
"Interview" 5 - Back to the Case Study! I made sure to review each part of the case study in detail. I researched the industry-specific acronyms (which 2 of the people I interviewed with were unsure of what one even stood for) and I put together thoughtful and in-depth answers to each of their questions. I was excited to send it over but didn't get the chance.
However, I got "the call" - Overall, the interviews went well, the personality was a good fit; however, my technical skills weren't what they were looking for - They felt that I misunderstood some technical accounting/finance functions and my Case Study responses weren't what they had hoped.
In my past, I have gone through 8 rounds of interviews, some of which were hour(s) long, in-person assessments with the VP of FP&A. I have been a Financial Analyst for 7 years, 3 of which I have been as a Senior Financial Analyst. I have 2 Accounting degrees. I solved problems in Crawfords spreadsheets that they didn't know existed and are likely being utilized as we speak.
It's unclear if Crawford will ever find their perfect Senior Financial Analyst, but hopefully there are still some analysts who have a willingness to learn, have a can-do attitude and can find someone at Crawford who has an ounce of mentorship within themself.