I found the interview process at Lever extremely unprofessional. After reaching out to me through email, I scheduled a time to speak with the recruiter. She was kind, but kept moving the interview date & time, the only notice being Google Calendar reminders with the most moves being the day before the interview. The recruiter was enthusiastic, coming back from a lengthy leave and did not hesitate to pitch Lever to me. So much so that most of the conversation was the assets of Lever.
One thing that stuck with me was her mention of diversity & inclusion and how they have interview quotas for diverse candidates. I immediately started to wonder if I was just a number and a checkbox they wanted to mark off and if there was any real intention of hiring me.
Out of the 30 minute conversation we had, 25 were about the company and 5 about a mutual connection. I wasn't sure where I stood so. I asked about the next steps to which she said she would schedule a second meeting.
I felt good about that. So good that I went for a walk after the phone interview and was surprised when the recruiter called me again. I said, "Hi!" and she introduced herself to me like I was a new candidate even though we had just spoke and she mentioned in the interview she had a hard stop. She apologized and hung up.
The second interview was with someone in a position of management. He seemed very egotistic with his first question asking me what I thought about his LinkedIn profile. I was well prepared for the interview with statistics from my current job and my former job, he even admitted so towards the end of the interview.
Every question he had seemed to be a gotcha question and despite my accolades I found it offputting that he was mansplaining what churn was. He was actively trying to dissuade me from the role highlighting only negativity and what he was able to accomplish for his team. I can say that he flipped the switch in terms of attitude in that while the recruiter was enthusiastic to have me, he was full of negative energy. I never felt more like a number.
To this day, and it's been a month later, while I received a survey for my interview experience which I gladly filled out, I have not received word from the recruiter nor the second interviewer on my candidacy. I emailed both after my interviews expressing my appreciation even though I truly feel like my candidacy was to satisfy a company rule, a "Rooney Rule" interview.
For Lever, a recruiting ATS company, this is appalling. The mistakes of the recruiter, while unprofessional, are forgivable given their schedules. However, the level of unprofessionalism where a presidents' club winning second interviewer can talk down to an established candidate and openly say that competitors like Greenhouse and others were markedly better are reasons why Lever will eternally be hiring for the position.