Couple weeks ago, I had applied for the role of a Senior Project Manager at Mathworks. The initial conversations with the Hiring Manager and the Recruiter went well. In fact, they wanted to proceed with the interview process - which is an all day event with a presentation at the beginning followed by multiple interviews. They were even nice enough to share templates for the slide deck which I found very helpful. Over the next few days, I put in a significant amount of time preparing for my presentation & interview. I even shared my final deck with the recruiter who said it was ‘fantastic’, and also offered some very valuable feedback that incorporated. The day of the interview : It started off with me giving the presentation to a few folks from the Mathworks team. I had some technical difficulties during the presentation (Teams wouldn’t let me share for whatever reason), but one of the interviewers were nice enough to share it on my behalf. Anyways, the presentation was done, but the Hiring Manager could not attend. Right after the presentation, I had a 40 minutes interview with the Hiring Manager and I thought we ended that interview on a good note. Then came the total shocker… As I was getting ready for my next interviewer, the recruiter hopped back on the video call and gave me the startling update that there’s been a misalignment and that they will have to end the interview. Like most people, I have have done my fair share of interviews but never have I ever experienced something so unprofessional and demotivating. I put in a non-trivial amount of work on this, I took a day off from my very busy work schedule, only to have this interview cut short after the first hour and half, and that too without any proper justification or reasoning. Mathwork needs to treat their interview candidates with respect and dignity. If there’s a so-called misalignment, could it have been identified sooner? Was there a need to cut short the interview with no meaningful explanation? This has by far been the most horrible experience I have ever had at any interview. I will make sure to never apply for another position with Mathworks. 

Advice to Mathworks : Teach your employees to value their interview’s time and effort, and be professional. Regardless of whether an interview results in a job offer, it goes a long way if the candidate is treated with the respect they deserve.