Refinery29 Journalist Interview Questions
& Process

It was a pretty chill interview process. We had a first meeting with the director, then a second with the person who would end up training me. The last step was just a quick chat over the phone about what I expected to get paid.

An HR rep from the company contacted me, and we set up an initial phone conversation. After that, I had a Zoom interview with the hiring manager. Soon after, I was given a long edit test to finish. The edit test was long but typical. After I sent it in, the company ghosted me for over a month. I sent two follow-ups after three weeks of no response about the position, about a week and a half apart. I ended up contacting the hiring editor who told me they had moved on with another candidate. This is the second time this brand ghosted me after an interview / edit test process. Given how long these edit tests take, I wish the HR reps would have had the decency to send an email informing us of the status of our interview process. It was frustrating, to say the least.

This was by far the most unprofessional interview process I've ever experienced. An editor reached out via Instagram DMs about an opportunity on their beauty team. After I emailed, there was radio silence. A week later, she responded lackadaisically, claiming she was on vacation, and asked about a phone interview. I sent over times to talk, but she said she wasn't available and asked me to come into the office instead. I still had no idea what the position entailed, so I pressed for details. She asked when I could come in, and I provided times on two separate occasions. She didn't respond until it was too late. At that point, I told her I was no longer interested in interviewing, as hiring is a two-way street. Showing that you can't perform basic job functions or communicate appropriately are huge red flags. This was embarrassing and confirmed the horrible reviews about R29. It's transparent that management isn't listening to complaints or fixing things but hoping to lure more people into their mess. My advice: train your employees on how to act professionally, teach hiring managers interviewing best practices, and give them training on managerial experience.