Instructure seems to be lacking some basic organization when it comes to their recruiting process.
Positions Applied for: Inside Sales Regional Director, Enterprise Regional Director- Healthcare, Midmarket Sales Executive. (Only heard back about one)
Like most Applicant Tracking Systems, once you've submitted your application you will receive an automated email response confirming that they've received your application, will review your credentials and reach out should you be a good fit. Sounds great, right? After all that's why you applied in the first place- you felt you were a perfect fit for what they're looking for. Wrong! Days go by and you haven't heard anything from anyone. You start connecting with people via LinkedIn, especially the recruiters to hopefully call some attention to yourself, but still nothing. It isn't until weeks later, and a few nudges from employees inside the organization that finally get the recruiter to reach out to you to set something up. You get all excited again at the chance to work for the company of your choice and decide to forgive them for their lack of attention in you, but in doing so, you forget to ask them what the expectations are. Wait, shouldn't that be their responsibility in the first place? To tell you how their process works. Well, a few more days go by and then finally you're asked to jump on a phone interview.
The hiring manager does a great job being on time to that phone interview and asks a lot of great questions to see if you'll be a good fit. They like what they're hearing, so they decide to bring you in for an in-person interview in order to meet 1-on-1 and to meet the current team. Sounds great, right? Not so much. While you feel the phone interview went great and you had a real shot, what happens next totally ruins your chances.
Instead of meeting with each team member 1-on-1 for about 5-10 min each, they throw you in a room with about 7 guys total for roughly 90 minutes. I understand that this may feel convenient and efficient, but to the person interviewing it feels like you're being interrogated. "Groupthink" being the biggest problem with this method (explained later). The interview then starts off light and simple. Tell us about yourself, your interests, etc. So, you're honest and open- maybe a little too much, but that's what you've been taught every company wants. A loyal, honest, hardworking employee. Sadly, your honest answers turn into 45+ minutes (of the 90 minutes you were given) of Q&A's about your personal life and nothing to do with your skills, credentials and ability to perform the job you're applying for. Frustrated by the direction the interview is going, but quite frankly nothing you can do about it, you try to shift the mood, questions and topic altogether. Doesn't work! They seem to be so hung up on your personal interests that they don't seem to care if your responses are actually true AND what they want to hear... they're still just too worried about the "what if" in your personal life. Why does it matter what I do with my personal time outside of work? How does that affect my commitment and ability to perform my job? We all have things going on outside of work, whether it be kids, continuing our education, additional jobs, passions, goals etc.
Continuing on, although you feel that you did a great job with the questions that were related to both business and the job you're applying for, it still doesn't seem to matter. To make things worse, some of the team members who came to meet you, came in late, only heard the irrelevant portion of the interview, assumed/inferred that they knew what was best for YOU and then left early. They didn't ask any questions related to the job, but rather, focused on the topic at hand when they walked in late. How is anyone supposed to have a fair shake or a good chance at getting the job when things like this happen?
Continued in Interview Questions...
