The entire interview process is lengthy and rigorous, but was the deciding factor when choosing OwnLocal over other offers. I had the chance to meet and get to know almost 30% of the company (18-20 people) throughout the process. Everyone has plenty of opportunities to determine whether it will be a good fit on both sides which fosters a very welcoming atmosphere.

I submitted an online application, which was a fun and smooth process because their website and user-interface is clean and simple. I liked their phrasing too. For example, they ask about your Jedi skills rather than training and certifications; and they also asked about something that surprised me. This is a refreshing change of tone from the typical cookie-cutter application questions that exist out there and I thought it was an accurate representation of their culture. A few days later I was emailed and moved on to work on a 2-part project with about a 4-day deadline. The project focused on your communication skills in cold calling scenarios to schedule a demo. The instructions were open-ended and didn't entail too many explicit requirements, which I liked because it was a great way to work something out yourself and for them to evaluate your communication patterns and strategies. Another Glassdoor review mentioned that the project instructions were vague; I think that was intentional because they probably want to see how you operate and work things out with little direction. I thought this actually made it easier for the candidate because you could manipulate the scenario however you wanted. On top of that, there was also an opportunity to talk about your strategy, so there wasn't too much risk for ambiguity on why you chose certain communication tactics since you were able to explain yourself. A few more days later I was emailed to schedule a phone interview. The phone interview was scheduled for and lasted 20 minutes. The interviewer was very easy to talk to and he was clear about the intentions of the phone call, which was try to get to know me and talk to me more about the specific role. I think I botched my opportunity at this stage in the beginning when the interviewer said, "tell me about yourself" because I immediately tried to sell myself instead of stripping away the formalities and simply talking about myself outside the scope of work. This contradicts a lot of the tips you might find when searching for interview advice but looking back I think they were trying to screen for a culture fit rather than a qualification fit because the interviewer did mention that my current work and skill set was very similar/transferrable for the role in question. However, a few days later I received an email thanking me for my interest and that they weren't moving forward with my candidacy. Overall, this was a positive application experience even though I didn't advance further into the process. The company was always responsive (including the CEO at one point) and they didn't waste my time. Sure they made me complete a project that I took seriously and spent a lot of energy on, but it certainly wasn't a waste of time or unreasonable. It was something I had never done before and at the end of the day I learned from it and gained some job application EXP!