Cruise Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online and a recruiter reached out because my experience was 'Highly Relevant.' We scheduled a call, and during the interview, they emphasized how relevant my background was and even mentioned potentially up-leveling the role. The recruiter said they'd get back to me the next day to schedule a meeting with the hiring manager. However, a week passed with no response, so I followed up. After two more follow-ups over the next two weeks, the recruiter finally replied. They explained that right after our call, they offered the role to someone else, and they would only reach out to me if that candidate declined, which is why I hadn't heard anything. It's frustrating because recruiters should provide updates, especially when they make definitive statements. Also, when a role is almost filled, it's best to pause hiring from other candidates. It's disrespectful of candidates' time and effort to approach them, have them invest in preparation, and then ghost them or provide updates only after persistent follow-up.

So first, I had a quick chat with a recruiter to see if I was interested and to get the lowdown on how the interviews would go. Then, another engineer hopped on a call for a technical interview. It was pretty straightforward, just an algorithms problem to weed out people who weren't a good fit. After that, the recruiter set up four more interviews back-to-back, each lasting an hour. Three of them were with folks on the team I would potentially join. These were all technical, but the first bit of each interview was more of a casual chat to see if I'd fit in with the team. I waited about a month for an offer after those, which felt like forever. I got a verbal offer, and they said the official one would come the next week. But then three months went by, and they kept pushing back the date for the official offer until they just stopped responding.

Started with a recruiter call to see if I was a good fit and if I was interested. Then had a call with the hiring manager to talk about skills, the role, and career growth. After that, it was a full loop with 4 rounds covering technical skills, leadership, and cultural fit, and then a final chat with the hiring manager.

So after the initial recruiter call, I had an interview with the manager. Apparently, their job descriptions are not really accurate. My background seemed to fit the job description well, including the required skills. But the 'Bonus Points' section, which was listed as extra coding experience, was actually crucial for the job! Even the recruiter didn't seem to realize this. I feel like many companies will reject you after one try and then block you from reapplying for a while. Also, job descriptions that don't clearly state the actual requirements really hurt your chances. It also makes it less exciting to apply.