William & Mary Director Interview Questions
& Process

It was a pretty typical interview process, maybe a little extensive for what I felt was an entry level role. It started with a quick 15-minute screening call. Then, about two weeks later, I had an hour-long Zoom interview with the hiring manager and three other people involved. The last part was a full day of interviews on campus.

I went through 3 interviews for this role. First, there was a 15 min screening call. Then, a 1 hour panel interview. Finally, an all day on-campus interview with different people from the organization. The interviews were spread out, about 2-3 weeks between each. I got a response from the hiring manager pretty quickly.

I debated posting this review for W&M's Advancement Office for a while, not wanting to be seen as just venting about a bad experience. The college itself seems fine, but the interview process was unlike anything I'd encountered before, so I wanted to give a heads-up to others. It took over 3 months to even get a phone interview after applying. Then, it was a couple more weeks before they called back to invite me for a visit. Since I live 700 miles away, I needed to arrange travel. The first hiccup was when they suggested an interview date I had explicitly stated was unavailable. After clarifying, we finally picked a date. I asked to see the flight itinerary before booking to ensure I could get time off and manage travel logistics. A week later, I got the booked itinerary with no prior review, and as I suspected, the flights were inconvenient. I had to make multiple calls and emails to get them corrected, with resistance about the cost of changes. This was only a few days before my flight, and I almost backed out due to the poor communication. Upon arrival, everyone was friendly. I was supposed to have lunch with about 4 people I'd be working with directly, but a few hours prior, they canceled, citing a project deadline. I was told to fend for myself. I was also offered a campus tour, but my morning interviews ran late, making me miss the window for it. This left me with over 3 unscheduled hours. The rest of the day was okay, and the other people I met seemed nice and professional. It's now November, and despite interviewing in July, I still haven't received any communication about not getting the job, even though I saw the hired person's name on their website. It's baffling that an organization would go through all this—mishandling travel, canceling lunch, and then ghosting a candidate, especially after I followed up a few weeks post-interview and my attempts were ignored. I suspect it might have been due to the travel issue and the extra cost they incurred, but mostly I attribute it to their unprofessionalism. We're expected to be professional and perform well, but this experience felt the opposite. With very little follow-through, a process stretching nearly 8 months, and a lack of basic professionalism, it was disappointing. I believe employers owe candidates, especially finalists for management roles, at least a simple notification about the hiring decision.