SWIFT Interview Questions
& Process

Had a positive experience meeting the direct recruiting managers. However, the talent head in Belgium was incompetent, scheduling remote meetings at incorrect times and providing inaccurate location details and misspelled replies. These minor issues caused stress when arranging interviews while working elsewhere and reflected poorly on the company. The final issue was the lack of communication after a lengthy interview process, a form of "job ghosting" typically seen with poor recruiters, but unexpected from the talent office of a company positioning itself as crucial to financial infrastructure. This demonstrated a lack of professionalism that negatively impacts the company. For those job hunting, persevere, as "talent" often means the opposite.

I applied in December 2024. It took a bit before I got the initial coding test, which was on Codility. It was pretty manageable. A few weeks later, I heard back that I passed and was moving on to the interview with the Malaysian team. Then, another few weeks passed before I got the final interview with the team I would join. It was a great final interview, but HR just let me know I didn't get the job.

I had a screening teams call in January, and they initially said there would be 2 stages: a task with the hiring manager and then a final interview. However, the process ended up having 4 rounds. The first round was with the hiring manager and someone else. Stage 2 was a task, and it wasn't clear why it was moved to this stage. Stage 3 was a final round interview, and then there was a surprise Stage 4, a second final round interview, which they said was because the MD of comms wanted to meet the final 2 candidates. I felt this was odd, as I've applied for more senior roles with fewer interview rounds. After the final interview, I had to follow up to find out about my application status and received a brief response stating they couldn't proceed, mentioning an inactive YouTube channel as a factor without elaboration. I suspect this decision might have been influenced by my appearance on the YouTube channel, which they never discussed with me, raising concerns about narrow-mindedness and a potential judgment call. The lack of feedback or even a 'thank you' was disappointing, especially after making it to the final stage and clearly being suitable for the role. They provided prep questions before each interview, but the interviewers didn't seem to follow them.

So, I had this interview that was truly a nightmare. The first round had three interviews, and it felt really positive. Then, for the final, fourth round, we had a scheduled call, but nobody showed up after 15 minutes. I reached out to the HR person, who had apparently been let go, and he mentioned they'd decided to move the position overseas, but he never actually emailed me. Fast forward a few months, a Manager contacted me. We had a casual FaceTime chat, and she told me two new roles were opening up and encouraged me to apply, saying I'd be a strong candidate. I applied, and then this person just ghosted me completely! I sent multiple emails, but got zero response, not even a polite rejection. It's essential to treat applicants with respect and empathy, especially since we're all looking for work out of necessity. Remember, this could happen to anyone someday! Always keep the Golden Rule in mind and practice humility.