CEI Recruiter Interview Questions
& Process

I interviewed with CEI for a Director of Corporate Recruiting role and I think I faced unlawful discrimination because I'm a young woman. They asked me some illegal questions like “Why do you need to work from home? Do you have young kids at home or something?” and “You look very young, this Director role would be a great fit for you.” I met with 7 men who are all in leadership positions at the company, and I'm not aware of any women in leadership there. They told me after the interview they were going to put an offer together, but then called me a few days later to say they weren't making an offer because I asked to work from home, even though I had already agreed to be in the office 5 days a week. The other male recruitment lead is allowed to work from home a few days a week, and he told me that multiple times. They also asked me how much I currently make and then told me they base offers on current salary, not the job's worth. They hired a man instead. If you're a woman, I'd stay away from this organization.

The corporate recruiter was really nice and gave me all the details about the company and how to do well in the interview. The interviewer seemed friendly and connected well with me. They allowed me to give my previous employer proper notice before starting and we agreed I would join at the beginning of next year.

I talked to an internal recruiter for about 10 minutes first. Then, I had a FaceTime call with the recruiting manager and the branch manager. The questions were pretty standard and it lasted around 20 minutes. After that, I had a phone call with the director of recruiting. He didn't have a lot of recruiting experience, so it was a really easy interview. He mainly wanted to check if I'd be okay working from home. The whole process took a really long time; it was months before I got an offer, and my start date even got pushed back a few times after I accepted.