Meltwater Account Manager Interview Questions
& Process

HR was totally incompetent, couldn't understand my emails about scheduling and kept rushing me to set up interviews and a case study, but wouldn't answer basic questions about pay and benefits. They blamed it on being new, but there was no follow-up or 'I'll check' until I escalated. Once I spoke to the hiring manager, I got the deadline I wanted for the final round. The reasons they gave for not moving forward after the interview were weak and random, even though I specifically asked at the end if I met their criteria. It felt like they had already decided and just went through with the interview to make their process look legit, but my time was definitely wasted because of the HR person's incompetence.

The interview started with an HR interview that included simple questions. They asked about my background, work experiences, how I handle pressure, my strengths and weaknesses, and my salary expectations. They also inquired about my notice period and what I value about the company.

After applying for the role, I was contacted by my potential future manager. Then there were group and personal interviews. I didn't get to the later stages because I was rejected after the first phone call with no explanation yet. Two things surprised me: 1) the first person I spoke to wasn't from HR but directly from the business unit. This probably explains the vague explanations about the organization and roles (unless the confusion was intentional). Given the potential juniority of candidates, the org chart isn't obvious, and a recruiter would have totally understood that. 2) Bringing up salary in the first interview is frowned upon. This is probably because there was no HR rep, but this logic doesn't hold up in other interviews where recruiters directly ask about your salary expectations or the pay scale. Unless, again, the vagueness is intentional. It's worth noting that the interview is also very KPI-focused: the manager asked me about my evaluation criteria in my previous roles, my success rate, and if monthly objective setting would bother me. Aligning with other experiences, it's important to understand the company's motto (work hard, play hard) to grasp the objectives of the interview, the interviewer, and especially Meltwater.