The HR interview was standard, though personal scheduling constraints I mentioned were ignored, forcing me to complete the test case within one day on top of my existing workload. The final interview was highly unstructured and stressful. I was given minimal context by the manager about interviewing a first-year client (a major bank) and coordinating with core assurance. She said I had 15 minutes, then turned off her camera. Shortly after, another interviewer turned his camera on; I initially thought he didn’t understand what was happening, so I repeated what the manager had said. Only then did I realize the role-play had already started with him as the “difficult client.” The abrupt transition and lack of guidance made the exercise extremely confusing and overwhelming. Afterward, the director (CA) commented that my resume “doesn’t feel like I’ve been a senior for three years,” which felt extremely berating. Coming from experience at two Big 4 firms, this level of chaos and lack of structure was unacceptable and unprofessional. Overall, I would not want to work in this environment, as the culture and leadership approach reflected a lack of clarity, support, and professionalism.

The whole process took one month. I did a conference call with two Senior Managers, they asked me about my CV and work experience. A week after HR invited me to three interviews at the office (45min each, they payed me the flight to Zurich and expenses). The first one was with a Manager, she was nice and went through my CV, experiences, my opinion on some work topics and some fit in questions. Second one with the Partner, we talked about tendy IT topics, was more about a talk than an interview. Last one with a HR recruiter who asked more fit in questions than technical. All of them were really open to questions and kind to show me their opinion. I don't speak German so everything was in English, they told me there are German courses, but is not needed at work.