Hornblower Group Interview Questions
& Process

My interview experience with NYC Ferry/Hornblower was pretty bad. Their office isn't great, it's in an old building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and right next to a loud warehouse. The masking policy was also really relaxed, which made me uncomfortable, so I kept my mask on the whole time. The interview itself was quick and gave me a chance to talk about my background and what I'm looking for. Even though my interviewer was a bit condescending, especially when I asked questions, they seemed interested, and I thought I might get to the next stage. It's been almost a month since I interviewed, and they just sent a generic rejection email. It felt like they weren't in a hurry to hire and it wasn't a valuable experience for me.

It was pretty much just a phone screen. The hiring manager had 30 minutes to chat about my experience. Near the end, she mentioned they needed to hire quickly and would be in touch if I advanced. I didn't hear back for a day, so I figured I wasn't selected. That Friday, she emailed with a flimsy excuse about scheduling conflicts, saying I'd hear back the next week. I knew she was lying because the job posting was gone from their site. It's been almost two weeks, and she's ghosted me. It felt pretty messed up that she'd bother to make up that story.

You fill out paperwork with a bunch of other job seekers on the ship. Then the hr people screen you and if you pass that, you go to the interview. They ask more questions and if you're lucky, you get a second interview and a drug test. Because my resume didn't show my bartending and food service experience, they told me to get a copy with that info and bring it back in an hour. I live in Jersey and the ship was in Manhattan. I left with my broken arm, and never got called back, even though I still kinda want to try. The reason I was mad was because I went the day after breaking my arm and they turned me away, and then they sent me home two months later after I tried again. I wouldn't recommend this company unless they start treating people like they matter. They obviously have a reputation for not doing that.

I applied online and had a first phone chat with their outside sales rep, which was nice. They said I'd have an in-person with the Director of Sales, but when I got there, the receptionist couldn't find her. Eventually, the assistant director came down and said the Director of Sales had a last-minute thing and couldn't make it. I took this as a bad sign, like she didn't care much about me being there. The interview felt kind of tense and I felt overdressed, especially since the person I was supposed to meet with wasn't there.