The Washington Post Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process for the Senior Editor role at The Post was a great experience meeting the team, everyone was super kind. I've read The Post for years and was really excited when I saw this job opening that felt like a perfect match. However, despite completing 6 interviews and a pretty big homework assignment, I never heard back from the recruiter. This was even after sending several follow-up emails, just dead silence. It was disappointing and a bit surprising, especially for such a well-known institution. If a candidate gets that far, I feel like they deserve a response after putting in that much time and effort.

I applied online and the recruiter call went well. Then I had an interview with the hiring manager and a consultant which was unexpected. The interview was strange because they asked me to use the STAR method but then didn't ask STAR-compatible questions. Some questions were just odd and not what I would expect. The hiring manager was gruff and cut off my answers. They ended the interview abruptly before I could ask questions. They ghosted me afterwards, but it was fine because I knew I didn't want to work there.

It was a good experience overall with a really thorough interview process. The process had four stages: first, an initial screening that was about 30 minutes long. Then, there was a role-related simulation that had a 24-hour turnaround time. After that, a panel interview with two department heads that lasted for 45 minutes. Finally, a hiring manager interview that was about 1 hour long and involved behavioral questions. My recruiter was very friendly and gave a clear overview of the screening. They asked questions and really dove into my background. They also let me ask lots of questions and were super thorough and efficient, making me feel really supported. The hiring manager interview was around an hour and included situational questions that allowed me to talk more about my background. The interviewer was very down-to-earth, communicative, and created a comfortable environment for me to share my examples and ask questions. The panel interview was shorter and had a similar vibe, but they asked more follow-up questions to understand their interests and vision for the role. Updates were really fast, usually within a day or the same day, except for the very last update, where they said I'd hear about next steps within a week. I got a call the Monday after that week and they told me it was between me and another candidate. Even though I wasn't selected, they said there might be future opportunities because they liked my work and profile. Even without an offer, I'd still recommend this process to others. It was professional, informative, and gave a good sense of the company culture. I'd definitely consider applying again in the future because I felt valued as a candidate throughout.

The interview process started with a recruiter call. Then there was a technical screening with some practitioners. The final round was 3 hours long and included a coding interview, a discussion about machine learning, and a behavioral interview with the hiring manager. I got a form letter rejection with no feedback. It was a really bizarre experience because the hiring manager basically mocked me for a minor misunderstanding of a technical detail. They also seemed really uninterested, gave sarcastic answers to my questions, and ended the interview early. I didn't misrepresent my experience at all, so it was upsetting to be treated like that after studying so much. The rest of the team was nice though.