NICABM Interview Questions
& Process

I talked with three people: the operations director, a remote web dev person, and the company owner. First, I met the director, then had a Skype call with the tech person about my dev skills. The job description was confusing because it was the same for four different job titles, and not all those titles usually do the same things. It felt like they wanted a jack-of-all-trades who could do web dev, IT, and marketing/database coding. This was a bit outside my usual skills, as I've been doing web dev for 19+ years but wasn't expecting core developer and IT tasks. I thought the owner, who is a psychologist, was nice and asked good questions about my personality and how I'd fit the team, which I was prepared for since I know SAT/ACT stuff. The director of operations handled the skills questions.

The interview process included two interviews, a self-assessment, a writing sample, and a Word/Excel skills test. The first interview was good, focusing on my background and the job duties. I then completed a take-home writing assignment with 3 persuasive emails, 2 Facebook posts, and 2 tweets. Based on that, I got a second interview with the business owner. This second interview felt more like an interrogation. Instead of discussing the job or my skills, my resume was criticized for being too short. The interviewer seemed unsatisfied when I explained I'd focused on recent, high-responsibility roles. She then asked for my SAT scores, and when I could only guess, she pressed for exact scores, which seemed overly important given I took them 10 years ago. She suggested I should have exaggerated my scores to 'sell myself better.' We also discussed my ambitious career goals, which she called 'far-fetched,' though I pushed back and affirmed I could achieve them. Overall, it wasn't a welcoming environment, and you should be prepared to defend yourself and bring your SAT scores.

First, I had to do a writing test to send back. After passing that, I was called in for an in-person interview. I met with two people: a senior staff member I'd be working with, and the company founder. There were about 4 or 5 other candidates there for the same job, and I was the last one of the day. We also had to do a Word and Excel skills test when we got there. A younger candidate who seemed right out of college asked for my SAT scores. I was surprised and found it odd, especially since I'd been out of college for a while. The interviewer was rude when I couldn't recall exact scores. She mentioned she remembered hers from 40 years ago. It was baffling she'd ask such a thing and react that way, considering the SAT's relevance is debatable. It seemed like she might be filtering out good candidates based on an old test score. She didn't even bring up the writing test I'd submitted, which felt like it should have been a main focus. The other interviewer was much nicer and asked things like "What's your dream job?" and "What job would you prefer the least?". She also told me about the day-to-day tasks. I got the feeling they were understaffed and writers leave often, which online research also suggests. The pay for this job is really low. They do offer a lot of paid internships, which might be good for students. Overall, the company seemed unprofessional and it was the worst interview I've ever had.

The standard application process involves an initial interview with a team member, followed by a meeting with the owner, Ruth. As noted in other reviews, expect potentially offensive and illegal questions with no regard for your skills. It's advisable to avoid this company due to a negative and bizarre interview experience.