AOL Recruiter interviews, decoded.

A recruiter emailed me to ask for my availability. After I responded, she didn't get back to me, so I sent another email. She ended up calling me randomly while I was traveling, so we had to reschedule. When she finally called, we spoke for about 6 minutes before she said I wasn't a good fit.

I applied for a role that seemed to be directly with the company, but it turned out to be through an agency. I had to have phone interviews with two people at the agency, a Recruiter and an Account Manager, before it was even decided if I'd speak with someone at AOL. The Recruiter had to reschedule my interview with the Account Manager multiple times because they were unavailable. It seems odd for a company with AOL's size and brand recognition to outsource recruitment for HR roles, as they'd know the culture best. Or at least have better oversight of their recruitment partners. As a recruiter myself, the initial process felt too drawn out.

I found the job posting online and sent my resume directly to the poster. The hiring manager reached out within days for an initial phone chat. They were super nice and gave me tons of info about the job and team. The next week, I visited the NYC office to meet three team members, with about 30 minutes for each chat. One of them even showed me around the cool Astor Place office! A week later, I went back to the NYC office to meet the hiring manager in person (she was traveling before) and they offered me the job right then. It was a really smooth and great experience!