Wall Street Journal Journalist Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was informal, taking place at a cafe in Brooklyn with a chief officer. It was a long-form, casual conversation, reflecting a very network-driven, word-of-mouth approach to getting this interview. The application process was largely offline and not publicly posted. I had to be referred directly after interviewing with someone from a neighboring company.

I got recommended by a friend. Had one interview with two people and I thought it went well. They really liked some of the photo interactive work I did. Then I was asked to interview for a different role that was more challenging. I was in a chat room and the deputy PE came in first, and I greeted him by saying "hello Timmy, how's your day?" He responded "I hate wasting my time with something that should take five minutes that now takes a half hour." A great way to start an interview. Then the boss came in for the interview and left for 10 minutes. WTF?

The interview happened right before the pandemic started. It was my very first interview in London and also my first in English, so I was really nervous. But the WSJ team made me feel at ease, and I can't fault them. They asked some challenging questions about reporting on the early pandemic and I think I gave a really silly idea, but they didn't react. I didn't get the job in the end.