IVY Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started with a phone screen, followed by an assessment test. For the assessment, I had to present resumes for potential jobs and post job openings on my social media, which felt a bit redundant. Then, I had to document my candidate sourcing strategy and search strings, and present this to a recruiter with less experience than me. After that, there was a VC interview and two live interviews. The role is structured as a 3-month 1099 probation period, with a salary of $45-55k plus a small commission. This structure is firm, and similar to what Events Coordinators and Community Managers make, even in NYC. All roles involve a skills test.

I submitted my resume and had a brief 15-minute phone chat with the recruiting manager. About a week later, I had a Google Hangout interview with my potential direct manager. The following week, I had a more casual conversation with a team member. The next week, I spoke with the head community manager on the phone. After the holiday break, I had a Google Hangout with the founder. It seemed like they were a little late to every meeting, about 5 minutes or so.

I went through three Google Hangout interviews in less than two weeks. The first two were with the DC Sr Community Manager and the Senior Community Manager. The final interview was with the founder and CEO. All interviews had similar questions and structure. The final interview with the founder and CEO was pretty off putting, he was almost 20 minutes late and barely acknowledged it when he joined. So a 30 minute interview became a 10 minute interview. I received a phone offer before seeing the DC office, and a written offer after meeting the team. The interview process was quick and smooth, but I felt the company was elitist and superficial, so it wasn't a good fit. The founder made the position sound very sales oriented and stressed that success is based on performance and commission. It seems like a sink or swim environment where members are valued more than employees. IVY has amazing events and an interesting model, but this elitist mentality wasn't for me.

I put in my application online and within about an hour, I got an email from HR to schedule a phone screen. The screener itself was a bit odd. The HR person outlined what she wanted to go over and then just went quiet. The call was mostly a standard overview of the job and my background. She said they'd reply in a couple of days, but when I followed up three business days later, she was out on vacation for a whole week. As soon as she got back, she contacted me right away to set up a second interview with the hiring manager. This interview also had standard questions about why I wanted to work at IVY, my previous work, and general questions about my personality. This interview was on Google Hangout, but their camera wasn't working, which was a bit irritating but not a dealbreaker. It was weird talking without seeing them.