Farm Journal Interview Questions
& Process

After I applied, I got a call. I then went in for an interview and had to do a skills test on Excel, and they wanted me to make a spreadsheet look better. After that, I was invited back for a second interview with the executives I'd be supporting. This second interview was about a week later. When I returned, I interviewed with two executives and they offered me the job right away, which I accepted. I got the official offer in writing two business days later.

I was first reached out by someone from HR through email about a phone interview. They were really nice and asked typical questions, and it was easy to talk to them. After that, I followed up the next business day and we set up a Zoom interview with the hiring manager. The hiring manager was super friendly and made me feel comfortable during the interview. We talked about the job duties and what to expect, and they asked about my past experiences. I followed up again after that. I waited about a week and a half to reach out to both of them because they said it would take about a week. The HR person got back to me quickly and thanked me for my interest. They said that while my skills were good, another candidate was a better fit. It wasn't a generic rejection, which I really appreciated. I'll definitely keep an eye out for other jobs with them.

The Farm Journal interview process really showed me some big cultural issues. I went through several rounds for the SVP position, and the last one was with the President. When I asked her about how they measure strategic initiatives using a goal-setting method we'd talked about earlier, I was surprised she didn't know what I was referring to. She instead talked about how the company is really short on people. She felt a good SVP could make a difference, but the company seems disorganized, and just hiring someone won't fix things. Sadly, after I interviewed with the President, the internal recruiter never got back to me, even though we discussed when the next steps, like meeting the CEO, would happen. It's been over three months, and I've followed up twice, and still no word, which is pretty unusual. This really just confirms what I thought initially: Farm Journal's culture needs a major makeover.

This was a multi-stage interview process that dragged on for months without a definitive outcome. It was quite concerning that the final decision maker only spoke with me at the very end. Given the leadership level of the role, it's disheartening to be ghosted after investing significant time and effort into multiple interview stages.