Pillar4 Media Interview Questions
& Process

I went through three rounds of interviews with different team members. It felt like a very inclusive and supportive environment. They seem to look for people with prior agency experience for their entry-level roles.

I had a first phone call with a recruiter, and then was sent a writing assessment. They told me if the assessment was good, there would be 2-3 more interviews. But I felt like the assessment wasn't set up for me to succeed. They gave it to me Friday morning and said it was due Tuesday at 9am Eastern. I'm on the West Coast, and even though the company is remote, there was no accommodation or mention of the time difference. I was told I could ask questions about the assessment, and the recruiter CC'd 4-5 team members on the email. I asked questions... and heard nothing back. Monday afternoon, the recruiter offered me more time, which I turned down. I submitted the test the best I could because I shouldn't have needed more time to begin with, and team members weren't even responding to my questions. The team either didn't know, didn't care, or weren't given the time to get back to me, and I don't know what's worse. If that's how the assessment goes, imagine working there.

I had already gone through three rounds of interviews with this company. Due to a scheduling conflict, we decided to pause our discussions and resume them later when my availability improved. The hiring manager explicitly stated, “whether it’s 6 months or 2 years down the road, please reach out when you’re ready to make a career change.” Two years later, I submitted applications for several roles. I contacted the same hiring manager through LinkedIn and email but received no response. The individual did not even have the courtesy to inform me that their priorities had shifted or that they were hiring internally. While HR managers often ignore applicants, completely disregarding someone you've engaged with for weeks, interviewed with multiple colleagues, and promised to reconnect with later is incredibly rude and unprofessional. The editorial staff I met were pleasant and helpful, but the hiring department was not.

The whole thing took about two months, mostly because they kept rescheduling. My first recruiter was great, really responsive, but then I got passed to their director of recruitment. The new recruiter started off okay, but after I did the design assessment and the third round of interviews, they went totally silent for two and a half weeks. I sent three emails asking for an update, and the last one just got me a rejection, saying they found someone with more relevant industry experience. They never mentioned industry experience being a thing beforehand, or even talked about my actual ability to do the job during the interviews. I actually had a really good chat with the hiring manager after going over the design assessment, felt like we really clicked. In the rejection email, the recruiter blamed their ATS for message issues and admitted they dropped the ball on communication, which I appreciated. But I emailed their company address directly and heard nothing back until that third email, two and a half weeks later. It's rough to get rejected with a reason that doesn't feel totally honest, especially when I thought we'd built up some trust. Missing out on working with that awesome design team, led by the hiring manager, was a bummer, but honestly, the worst part was how poorly the communication and the whole process ended.