Illuminate Education Interview Questions
& Process

Applied online for a role that I felt overqualified for. Was initially worried about negative Glassdoor reviews mentioning layoffs after a merger, but decided to see the company for myself if I got an interview. The recruiter call and hiring manager call both went well. I then did a case study which I think I aced. After those initial calls, I had a 1:1 with a key person and that also seemed to go well. But after that, things really went downhill. There were several scheduling issues for the in-person interviews, and they even added interviewers at the last minute, which felt disrespectful. Most of the interviews felt like simple meet-and-greets that weren't really necessary, except for one person. This one interviewer asked confusing, long-winded questions that were hard to follow and had multiple possible answers, and they'd argue with whatever you said. Overall, it was a disappointing experience. After the first few interviews, I felt like a top candidate, but by the end, I wasn't even sure I'd take the job if offered. This uncertainty was probably due to the disorganization, poor candidate experience, and the empty office space. Despite competing with larger companies, their product and goals seem solid. The negative Glassdoor reviews seem accurate. Maybe they'll be a good company to join once they sort things out.

Started with a good impression, but then things changed. Sent resume Friday, got an email the next week to set up a phone interview. The phone interview was pretty standard, only about 15 minutes. Then had a Skype chat with the team lead. Right after that, they wanted me to come in for an in-person interview. So far, communication was fast and I was thankful. They made me do a personality test. Then, they sent over some "homework" before the interview. I had to make a 20-minute presentation. I spent my whole weekend on it. Got to the office and started the presentation. After that, a bunch of managers questioned me hard about my approach, findings, etc. I get they want to be thorough, but it felt like way too much, like interviewing at a huge tech company. And this was for an entry-level role. After the presentation, a few days passed, and the recruiter said no, but they'd consider me for another job. I went to the office AGAIN and met one-on-one with that team's lead for an hour. Then nothing. Two months later, after emailing back and forth, they finally said the job wasn't available because of "budget cuts." What a weak excuse. Honestly, I'm not even mad I didn't get the job. Their interview process was maybe tougher than it needed to be, but I thought it was fair. My problem is with the run-around and the excuses after they decided I wasn't a good fit. I put a lot of time into this, and just wanted to be treated right. I think this company uses talk about "amazing culture" and casual dress codes to attract people. But underneath, they're just another company that doesn't care about employees, candidates, or customers.

Had a recruiter phone screen. Then an onsite panel interview. Also did an online personality test and had to demo phone and email service responses. There is a pretty long training period for the specific software group. I'm at the panel interview stage now, but I think they'll make a decision pretty soon after. People seem to love the company culture.

Had an initial chat with the recruiter that went really well! She made me feel comfortable and we had a good conversation. The second interview also seemed to go well, but then I got an email about a week later saying they decided to go in a different direction. It was a bummer because the hiring manager seemed to really like my ideas, even taking notes on them.