Merit Interview Questions
& Process

So I had this interview experience, first with the recruiter, then the hiring manager. Then came the 'final onsite' which was a bunch of interviews. After that, the hiring manager said they really wanted to work with me but needed me to do an assignment and have one last 'final' interview. This last interview was straightforward, and the marketer on the call said we 'bonded'. The assignment felt a bit unethical because it was about current company workload, and they wanted two logo directions for Merit by adding an S. I did it, even though it felt off. Then I was ghosted by the hiring manager and got rejected the next Monday, just a week after sending five references who apparently gave great feedback. During the interviews, they said things like "We really need someone like you with your background. You have two thumbs up from me." "The hiring manager thinks you're such a good fit we are forgoing the interview with Jacob, our CEO." "They love you so much, everybody wants to talk to you." "The team was super impressed with you." "I can't state how excited I am to potentially be working together" "Where did we find you!?" The job's still up, and I got no real reason why I wasn't chosen.

My interview with Merit was a really bad experience. They seemed to not care about my time. The first interview was really uncomfortable, the interviewers were rude and demanding, and it felt like an interrogation. I tried my best to answer, but their attitude made it hard. After the interview, I sent thank you notes and followed up, but they never responded. No feedback, no next steps, nothing. It's totally unprofessional and frustrating to put effort into a job and not even get a reply. I wouldn't recommend Merit based on this. If they treat candidates like this, who knows how they treat employees.

First, you have a recruiter call. Then, you jump right into the tech screen which is more pointless and time consuming than it is difficult (count on 3+ hours of jamming code). However, I will say that the engineers/interviewers at this level are really cool. They are there to work with you rather than throw a problem at you and watch you roll under the bus. The talk with middle and upper management is the hard part. This is also the part where the interviewers become less engaged, less willing to listen and answer questions. You will be presented questions that are scenarios in their world, which can be difficult to gather your thoughts on when you're not able to see the whole picture (you're also rushed as these rounds are shorter). Questions they probably can't answer themselves and even ask correctly.

The interview process was very positive overall. It was organized, communicative, and thorough. We had 4 rounds: 1st was a recruiter phone screen, 2nd was a video interview with the hiring team, 3rd was a video interview with additional stakeholders, and the 4th was a final video interview with the COO. With each interview, I got more excited about the role, the team, and the company.