Forward Recruiter Interview Questions
& Process

The initial stages were pretty straightforward. They really wanted to know how passionate I was about the company's mission and how I saw my career growing there. The final round was more of a 'jam session' where I was asked four questions about sourcing and recruiting strategies for different scenarios. For one of the questions, I had to figure out how to re-hire a physician in one month after a long-time employee retired. Apparently, just summarizing weekly KPIs/goals wasn't enough, so be careful with that!

The company's leadership team contacted me, as I had no prior knowledge of them. I had a conversation with a leader who seemed quite self-important and boastful about their background. They dominated the discussion, talking extensively about themselves, and I detected a clear sense of arrogance regarding how they vet candidates for their company. While they provided a substantial amount of information, it was evident they lacked a clear headcount plan and were disorganized in their current internal processes, which aligns with other feedback seen on Glassdoor. Their product roadmap appears weak, and their growth, planning, and overall strategy seem reactive rather than proactive. Interestingly, they don't offer referral bonuses, which is unusual, especially since they mentioned actively pursuing passive candidates and rejecting most applicants. For engineering hires specifically, they use HackerRank and reject 95% of candidates across three channels. They actively use LinkedIn and direct mail with the Head of Engineering's name to attract candidates. For non-tech roles, they use case studies instead of direct skill assessments through interviews. Their main employee benefit is a free healthcare program. Following this call, I lost all interest due to their chaotic company culture and the apparent lack of leadership demonstrated by the person I spoke with. I withdrew my candidacy via email. My advice to them is to become more humble; their current arrogant approach is a major deterrent for highly qualified individuals.

I applied for the new grad recruiting coordinator position with a training program through Linkedin. The next day, I got an email to schedule a phone interview. After that, they told me I was moving forward and sent an email confirmation two days later for the next round. This second round had two 30-minute interviews where they asked some behavioral questions and mostly talked about my background. I wasn't told if I was moving on during the call, but got an email a few days later for the final stage. The final stage was on-site, where I went to the office, presented an assignment with someone, and talked to 3 other people for 30 minutes each. The whole on-site took 2 hours. The next day, I got another email about next steps and had a call with the hiring manager where I got an offer. The process was super fast and efficient. All interviewers answered questions outside their roles, showing company investment. My questions focused on my background, why recruiting, and why Forward. There were some behavioral/time-management questions but no situational recruiting ones, likely because it's a new grad role. Overall, it was a smooth process. The efficiency and responsiveness seem to have improved recently compared to older reviews. I was surprised.