MECLABS Interview Questions
& Process

The first interviews were with super nice people, all seemed to be doing the same job but maybe less experienced. I had to do a blog post and a behavior assessment. The younger folks were really engaged, spent over an hour asking thoughtful questions. Then I had a Skype call with their manager. This guy was something else, he was really determined to make me fail. He just kept asking 'When have you failed?' and 'Tell me about a disappointment.' No positive questions at all. He even commented that I was turning failures into successes and he wanted to hear about my actual failures and how I dealt with them. My response was always about communicating, finding the problem, and fixing it. It felt like he already had someone else in mind or just didn't like me. His questions told him nothing about my actual skills or what I bring to the table. It was disappointing, especially considering the errors in his own writing.

I went through the typical interview steps. Since I'm currently employed, I had to take personal days for these interviews. A detail not often mentioned is that the office is in Jax Beach, which is inconvenient for most people and was a major drawback for me. Their clients, like the New York Times and Pitney Bowes, are impressive, which is why I continued the process. Usually, a demanding hiring process means they want top talent, but that doesn't seem to be the case at MECLABS. It feels like the higher-ups created this process, and the managers just go through the motions, wasting everyone's time and avoiding actual work. Firstly, they don't ask any job-relevant questions; it's all 'tell me about a time where...' questions, which could be for any job, even retail. Secondly, there's a lack of communication within the company; they ask the same questions and can't even forward a resume. In my final interview, they asked if I brought my resume, even though I'd already provided three copies over a six-week period. The interviewer said it was fine and asked me to describe my current role. Ultimately, I never heard back, not even a rejection letter like some others mentioned. My follow-up emails and calls went unanswered. I suspect I was disqualified because I stated my salary expectations were over 35k, even though they initially said it was within range. Again, communication seems to be an issue, as the HR person who initially approved it likely didn't pass the information on. Also, none of them had seen my resume and didn't seem to realize I wasn't a recent college grad; my experience warrants a higher salary. Seeing people playing ping pong barefoot for over an hour mid-workday suggests others are doing extra work to compensate, creating a juvenile atmosphere that isn't appealing for career growth.

I interviewed for a Lead Generation Specialist role in Minnesota. The interview process involved a phone call with HR, an interview with the team, a Skype interview with a manager from Florida, and two assessments. The interviews had repetitive questions, and it seemed like the interviewers didn't communicate with each other about my background. Most questions were behavioral, focusing on negative experiences like mistakes, missed deadlines, disagreements, or teamwork issues. The HR person couldn't clearly explain the job. The team interviewers were nice but unprofessional. The Skype interviewer was harsh and critical, framing questions aggressively, like questioning my ability to work with others based on my assessment results. The assessments were unusual for a research company and seemed outdated, asking basic questions about workplace preparedness. They rejected me, saying I was overqualified and wouldn't enjoy the job, which I now agree with given the work culture and the fact that some employees had less academic experience than me despite the company's emphasis on intellectualism.

First, the HR Assistant and I set up a time for an initial chat. Then, the HR Manager and I had a 30-minute conversation the next week. It was a friendly and informative chat, more casual than typical HR stuff, which I appreciated. The HR Manager then shared her notes with the HR Director. The Director decided not to have me do the 45-minute personality test or a second interview. I got an email about this that same week. The process was finished then. I'm unsure what they were looking for, as I thought the conversation went well and I'm qualified, maybe even overqualified, for the role.