Carter's Interview Questions
& Process

The recruiter got back to me pretty fast after I applied, and we had a quick 5-minute phone screen. After that, they set me up to chat with the hiring manager. I met with the hiring manager on Teams within a week, and that meeting was about 20 minutes long. Then, I was put into a panel interview with 3 people. Each part was 30 minutes, and they were all back-to-back on Teams. They really emphasized that they needed someone for this role urgently and were keen to fill the spot ASAP. All the interviews felt really easy and conversational, and I genuinely enjoyed talking with everyone and learning about the job. The whole interview process, from the first call to the panel, took about 2 weeks. The recruiter mentioned she'd have news the following week. I followed up, and she said she'd know more by the end of that week. After chasing her again the next week, I never heard back and was ghosted. I really liked the conversations and meeting everyone and was super excited about the opportunity, but being ghosted without even a rejection email is really unprofessional.

I had a phone screen with the recruiter and then an interview with the hiring manager. After that, I didn't hear anything back. I thought the conversation with the hiring manager went well, and I was hoping to understand why I didn't move forward. I guess there were differences between the experience they wanted and what I actually had, and that should have been clearer. It's really disappointing they couldn't even send a notification. Ghosting candidates is apparently trendy, but even an automated email seems like too much effort. It doesn't reflect well on them and fits with negative things I've heard about the company. I was hoping for better, but my experience didn't show that.

I talked with the store manager who asked me about my past work experience. They used a checklist with questions about different work situations. It was a pretty easy interview overall. They also asked about my availability, what I expect to get paid, my transportation situation, and if I had any things that could get in the way of working, like school or another job.

I went through 5 rounds: recruiter call, hiring manager zoom, high level manager call, team HR zoom, and technical director zoom. The final round would have been with a VP or head of the department. The conversations were great and I liked the questions asked, which covered skills, technical experience, and personality. Culture fit seemed important. Scheduling was a major issue; I'd confirm availability, only for them to say the interviewer wasn't available. After my last round, I had to follow up for two weeks to be told they'd rethought the role and weren't hiring. This was disappointing after a month of interviews. Red flags included: no sick days (work or make up time), no cobra coverage negotiation despite no immediate health insurance, one interviewer's view that marketing/merchandising are 'emotional' and don't use quant data, pressure to come into the office for a remote role if local, perception of politicking for growth, and most interviewers having been there 6+ years with only one having startup experience.