XANT Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online and HR got back to me quickly. Then I had three quick interviews over Zoom/Phone with HR, the hiring manager, and a senior data scientist. The manager interview involved me listening to a presentation about the company's business. The senior data scientist interview focused heavily on my graduate research from five years ago, with only one or two questions about my current work. This whole process took about a week. They mentioned wanting to hire quickly, but I never heard back. I contacted HR after two weeks and was told the data science team was being reorganized, which surprised me since they didn't mention it before my interviews. I waited longer, and still haven't heard back after two months. I don't expect to hear from XANT, as they seem disorganized and unsure of leadership, similar to issues at InsideSales.com.

I sent in my resume through their website and also via a LinkedIn connection. Within a few days, I got an email to schedule a face-to-face interview, and they also sent instructions for a personality profile test to do before the interview. I met the hiring manager in a room off the sales floor. The interview felt pretty friendly, but the sales floor was quiet and mostly empty. Looking back, I think the hiring manager expected me to take the lead and do more selling of myself, rather than just answering his questions. They seem to prefer assertiveness over analytical thinking.

I first met with a recruiter at my University's Career Fair for a quick intro and resume drop. She then called me for a phone screen later that week to check for culture fit. After that, she set up an in-person interview for that same afternoon. She emailed directions and asked me to complete a short personality test. When I got to the office, the recruiter explained I'd be meeting an engineering person, taking a programming quiz, and touring the facilities. The engineer was running late, so we toured the building first. After waiting a bit longer, I took the programming test, which covered PHP syntax, class design, and general programming concepts, mostly multiple choice. Finally, the engineer interviewed me briefly about my resume and experience, seeming quite distracted. The next day, the recruiter scheduled more interviews for the following week. These went much smoother. I had two interviews with engineering management that focused on behavioral questions and my work history. I also met with the hiring committee, though I don't recall specifics, and the CEO. The CEO interview was fast-paced with quick, potentially tricky questions, as the recruiter warned. They extended an offer that was lower than I expected, so I shared research on fair wages. The recruiter said she'd look into it, but I had already received a much better offer elsewhere and accepted that. I let the recruiter know, and she mentioned she'd told the hiring committee I might get better offers, but they wanted to proceed anyway.

The interview process was a mess. It started with a casual chat, then a professional meeting, followed by a phone call. The last part was a 3-hour interview with 5 people who didn't really have the same skills as me. I've interviewed twice for this company, once years ago and again recently, and both times were bad. After all the interviews, they told me they didn't actually have a job opening for my skills. They made it sound like I was applying as a general hire, not for a specific role, which was weird because I thought I was interviewing for a specific position on a specific team. HR seemed clueless about what was happening. The phone calls were the worst part. I found out during the call that the job I spent over 5 hours interviewing for wasn't even approved yet. It felt like a complete waste of time for everyone. I don't know if this is their normal way of doing things, but it felt really disrespectful and unprofessional. If they had just told me upfront that there wasn't a position available, I would have been fine with not interviewing. Also, if they thought I wasn't a good fit, that would have been okay too. The main issue was putting me through this long interview process when there wasn't even an open position.