HLW Interview Questions
& Process

It was a 3-stage interview process. I started with a chat with the hiring manager. Then, I had an interview with two team members, and the final round was with a principal. I was asked to show some of my work. The conversations were really friendly, and there weren't any unexpected parts.

My application sent via email took a month to get a response. The first interview was with the two managing directors of the LA office. They asked usual background and experience questions. I got a verbal offer the same day, with promises of a formal letter the next day and a start date for the following week. The offer was late, so after seeing some bad online reviews, I went in again the next week to check them out myself. The meeting went fine, and the team was very nice and encouraged me to join. I accepted the offer the day after and got a welcome letter from an owner. Then things went south. The company stopped responding to emails and calls. When I finally reached them, the same managing director said they needed to continue the selection process and wanted another chat, references, etc. the next day. It seemed like a lack of coordination and they were backtracking after making offers. The communication and response level was bad. I rejected the offer. Too bad, as they do good work and the people are nice.

I learned about this role from friends and sent my resume to the contact person. She called me and set up an interview. I went in, and after waiting quite a while, we discussed my portfolio. They mentioned they were still deciding and would be in touch. About two weeks later, I sent them some new project examples. Then, four months passed before they reached out again to see if I was still interested. Since I had found a job by then, I told them I wasn't available, but now I'm looking again and would like to have more interviews.

I applied via email after seeing the job on their website. They responded within a week. The first interview felt a bit scripted, not like a real conversation, and I got the sense they had a specific role in mind without much regard for what I was looking for. It was a standard 30-45 minute meeting, followed by an office tour. Then, radio silence. It took them 3 months to get back to me out of the blue for another interview.