Influenster Interview Questions
& Process

The CEO reached out to me directly via Angel List. The whole process was fast and easy. I had an initial interview with the CEO, President, and CTO. It was more of a conversation than just questions, where we talked about my background and opportunities. Everyone was engaged and answered my questions. For the second round, I presented my 30, 60, 90 day plan for the team, which also involved a lot of discussion. A heads-up for people with allergies or fear of dogs: there were dogs in the office, which might be an issue for some.

I applied online and then a recruiter hit me up within a week. We set up a time to talk with the hiring manager later that week. The meeting got pushed 30 minutes cuz the manager got stuck in a meeting, and she called right when it ended so it ended up being 15 minutes early. I was immediately thrown off. It all felt super condescending. She asked me 'well you're like what, 6 years out of college? Do you plan on like, getting on a career path?' She then told me Influenster is 'the fastest growing company in the country' which is kinda funny. That whole vibe is a total turn-off. I didn't even bother following up.

This was one of the worst interview experiences I have ever had. Every single person I met with was rude and represented the company poorly. When I arrived for my interview, it was clear that nobody had prepared for me to be there because there hadn't even been a room set aside for my interview. After waiting for some people to clear out of a conference room, I started talking with the CMO of the company who was extremely condescending. She seemed unimpressed and unenthused by me and my resume. My meeting with the CEO went similarly; he was very condescending and seemed unimpressed by me. I think I answered all of his questions well, and tried not to shrink under his somewhat rude demeanor. I responded with challenging questions of my own about the company, in an attempt to engage with him, even though by that point I had already been very turned off by the company. After the interview I had to take an extensive online personality test of sorts, which was an added annoyance considering I really just wanted to get out of there. It also seemed like everyone who worked there brought their dogs along with them, which was not pleasant for me as I am very allergic to animals. The cherry on top of this negative experience was when I got an email from their HR department later that week rejecting me. In the email there were several (obvious) typos. How difficult is it to proofread a one paragraph rejection email before you send it out? Please don't waste your time with this company, they are extremely disrespectful of candidates and your talents will likely be way more appreciated somewhere else.

Applied and skipped the phone screen, which I ended up regretting. The initial onsite was supposed to be a 3:1 interview, but it turned into a 2:1 because the CEO was late and left early. I did get a 1:1 meeting afterwards. I came back a second time to meet more team members. Everyone was professional, though I did feel like some seniors/execs came off as entitled, maybe a bit condescending, but I saw it as a fun challenge. During the first onsite, I mentioned my salary expectations. The offer matched my current pay, which was disappointing since they didn't do a phone screen to clarify this. The most surprising part was that they rescinded the offer after I attempted to negotiate, likely due to having other offers. It felt like a knee-jerk, unprofessional reaction. Ironically, they adopted some of my suggestions made during the interview.