Echoing Green Interview Questions
& Process

I had to do some prep for the first round, and then recorded my answers. They gave really clear feedback about what the next steps were. The questions made me think hard, but I felt a little rushed on time. The interviewer was super nice and encouraging, though.

I only had one phone screen and unfortunately never heard back after the screen. Not sure if they have a follow up process after phone screens. The phone screen seemed to have gone well and I was told I’d hear back within a week. Although the phone interview went well, I think there should have been some follow up even to at least state that I would not be moving forward in the process.

The first step was a phone screening handled by a third party. It was a 30-minute audio-only Zoom call, and the interviewer was in a noisy place. They started by telling me to stick to the questions and not elaborate, and that they'd ask questions later. The interviewer seemed to be reading from a script the whole time and was totally indifferent, not asking follow-ups or saying thanks, just moving on to the next question. They finished the call as soon as they ran out of script. I figured out why they told me not to elaborate – the questions were kind of repetitive. I got the impression the interviewer was just checking boxes against a rubric they had. The idea was okay, but it was really badly put together. Honestly, I would have preferred talking to an answering machine; at least you expect that kind of indifference. The questions themselves were standard, but the whole experience was really awful. (Hey Echoing Green: If you care about your company's image, you should actually try at recruitment!)

I applied and was contacted by an external recruiter for an initial phone interview. This recruiter was great and helped me prep. However, the salary talk was awkward. I felt pressured to give a range, which she said was higher than they expected. I said I was open to negotiation. After that, I had a Skype interview with a VP about two weeks later. She was late and not very friendly, and again brought up salary, saying my range was much higher than they could pay, which seemed to put her off. Despite this, I was invited for an in-person interview, also scheduled two weeks out. In the meantime, I had two writing assignments. I traveled to NY for the interview, which was supposed to be three 30-minute sessions with a VP and two senior associates (development and program). The VP was late again. The interviews ran 2.5 hours instead of 1.5. The development associate also brought in the Director of Development, who was nice and made that part easier, but the associate asked basic questions. The program associate was relaxed, and that interview felt like brainstorming. The VP was still not personable. Salary wasn't discussed in person. The recruiter told me I didn't get the job less than a week later, with no explanation.