That's Nice Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was pretty straightforward, involving meetings with the hiring manager and some of the existing project managers. While everyone I spoke with seemed pleasant, they did mention that dealing with certain colleagues, particularly the Creative Director, could be challenging. They also indicated that frequent yelling was common and that training for new hires was lacking. Upon receiving what I thought was a job offer, it was revealed to be an offer for a 3-month internship. This was apparently to circumvent New York State Labor laws regarding health insurance, which wouldn't be provided until after the initial three months. The compensation offered was also quite low, especially for the NYC area. Considering the low pay, the potential for verbal abuse from the Creative Director, and the misleading offer structure, I decided not to accept.

The interview process was lengthy and communication was lacking. It began with a standard phone call, followed by an in-person visit to their New York office. I had to really push to understand the job, which involved designing and managing market research questionnaires for the pharma/medical sector. It seemed like they weren't clear on the role themselves, as they couldn't provide a specific list of duties, always giving vague answers. The first interview was with a director and two other employees, one of whom was quite arrogant. We spent most of that time trying to figure out what they actually did there, as they never just said they were a market research firm, always explaining it in a very roundabout way. After that, I had lunch with the director managing my process, a nice guy, and we had a great industry chat, and I felt he saw me as a good fit. Then we had a more casual one-on-one, and I got a tour of the office. I asked about salary, but again, got vague responses. I didn't meet the CEO as he was out of town. Later, I had a phone interview with the director and the CEO, which was hard to schedule. We talked about compensation, but had to cut it short due to the CEO's other commitments. They made an offer that was significantly lower than market rate for my qualifications (PhD with 5+ years experience), so I proposed a reasonable base salary. That's when I learned the CEO is the sole decision-maker. After my counter offer, I had to chase them for two weeks for a response, which was that they wouldn't negotiate salary and that their bonus structure would make up the difference. Since they never clarified the bonus milestones, just gave more vague answers, I turned down the job. If they were going to be firm on salary and not consider experience levels, they should have been upfront to save me time. Also, the CEO/Owner seems a bit odd; his picture on the website had his head photoshopped onto a superhero body. And seeing how the Owner apparently pressured employees into writing positive reviews makes me really glad I didn't accept.

Met with the Managing Director for 3 hours and we really hit it off, especially since I used to be their customer. It's great that the company shares my values, recognizing that customers are super important and drive everything. The founder is a real role model for everyone here.

The interview process went straight to the hiring manager, though it did take a while to hear back. The company's internal paperwork process is also quite slow, which is something to keep in mind!