Nulixir Interview Questions
& Process

This was by far the strangest interview experience I've had. It was just one first-round interview, and honestly, it was full of red flags for anyone with HR experience – really poorly done, unprofessional, and disorganized. They started by really pushing the ideas of "grinding" and "hustling." Then they asked if I could take feedback well, saying "Don't worry though, we'd never yell at you or talk down on you," which felt like a huge warning sign, and made me think I'd probably be yelled at if I took the job. The CEO showed up halfway through, and things got pretty intense. He was super focused on why I left past jobs and why I "job hopped," only asking maybe one question related to my skills for the role. He then asked why I thought I wouldn't leave this company like I apparently have others. He said he was asking tough questions to see how I handle stress. Then he asked about my ideal work-life balance (about 40-45 hours with some flexibility), and when I answered, he jumped to asking "What if it was 85 hours?" and then "Well what about, 65 hours?" He explained that their high performers are people who put their career first, over "personal interests." They also mentioned hiring and firing about 100 people recently, which was another massive red flag, and I definitely didn't want to be #101. They also asked me what a day in this role would look like, which was a weird question since I haven't worked there before and wouldn't know without being in the role. It was a really uncomfortable and unprofessional experience, so I quickly declined to move forward. It seems like they don't have any HR professionals.

First up was a video call with the hiring manager. We talked about my background and I answered some questions. They seemed really focused on why I'd left past jobs, which made me think they have a problem with people leaving and instead of fixing it, they blame the employees. It was okay overall though. After that, I had to do one of those silly logic puzzle tests and a personality test. I guess seeing patterns in shapes is super important for this job. I guess I passed those. Second, the hiring manager was super disorganized and late in setting up another interview with the CEO. They pushed me to schedule the interview outside of the times I had given. It was late on a Friday and the CEO seemed really bored. He barely asked me anything and again, just kept asking why I left other jobs. Total waste of time. Then he said they'd let me know about an onsite within two weeks. I never heard from them again. I think I dodged a bullet though. Doesn't seem like a great place to work.

The interview was super unprofessional. The interviewer was late and asked tech questions totally unrelated to the job. This was probably 'cause they didn't know the role and didn't seem to care, saying they had too many interviews. They also harped on for 10 minutes about why I didn't go back to a previous internship, not accepting my answer. Then, halfway through, they said the CEO wasn't interested in my application. I mean, transparency is cool and all, but why waste my time if my application isn't appealing? If Nulixir is gonna have HR do behavioral and tech interviews for the role, they should at least be prepped to ask relevant questions.

I found the role on LinkedIn and went through one online interview. After that, I was invited for an office visit to meet with one of their Directors. It was a nice experience overall, and everyone I talked to was pleasant and knew their stuff. Nulixir is a pretty unique science-focused startup here in Austin. I'm looking forward to hearing from them soon.