DEPT Interview Questions
& Process

There were 4 interviews in total. It started with a talent acquisition lead, then the most junior person on the hiring team, followed by the hiring manager (who asked the toughest questions), and lastly a group account director who had been recently hired. The interviews themselves went fine, but there was a major communication breakdown between the hiring team members, and even more so between the hiring team and the talent acquisition folks. The group account director seemed to have minimal briefing and was unaware of the situation. As I moved forward, things became surprisingly less professional. They repeatedly gave dates for a hiring decision, but when those dates arrived, I heard nothing and had to initiate contact myself. The final decision was delayed by almost a month, with the date being pushed back four times. Dates were consistently missed without any proactive updates or consideration for my time. The entire process, from the first interview to the final decision, spanned two months, with my last interview being four weeks prior. After my final interview, the initial US-based TA lead mentioned she was going on vacation and handed me off to someone in Argentina. I later discovered via LinkedIn that the original TA lead had actually accepted a new position and wasn't on vacation. Things deteriorated further; the hiring notification was postponed three times by the new TA lead, and I only received generic, likely ChatGPT-generated, responses when I proactively reached out. The final straw was the hiring decision being two days late; without my outreach, they might have simply ghosted me. I would hesitate to apply or even consider an interview at this agency, or at least rank it low on your list. This process indicates a disorganized, siloed work environment with staff who seem too overwhelmed to properly manage it.

I applied for a Frontend Developer job on Indeed, and the description only mentioned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. But, the interview was mostly about data structures and algorithms, which weren't in the job description at all. I get wanting to test problem-solving, but the interview should match the job posting. If they want strong data structures and algorithms knowledge, they should say so upfront so people can prep. Being upfront builds trust with candidates.

I went through this process two times. The first time, I had an initial call with HR where we discussed my background and career aspirations. Following that, I had an online meeting with senior members of the team. They described the role, we reviewed my portfolio, and I presented some of my projects, after which they asked detailed questions. They noted my presentation skills needed improvement. The second time, they were pleased and wanted me to complete a take-home test. However, before I received the brief, the position was filled, so I didn't get to do it.

Got an invite for the Finance and Operational Excellence Lead role. About two hours before, they sent an email with info about the company, work hours, hybrid setup, and a brief on the call. The 20-minute preliminary call was mainly for asking the recruiter questions. When I asked about the job's split responsibilities, since the description mentioned finance, management, operational excellence, coordination, and communication, the recruiter explained that a key part is people hours management, which involves checking if everyone's logging their hours correctly against their assigned projects.