Based on the questions asked, it felt like the interviewer Googled "how to conduct an interview" before our meeting. I was a little surprised. Cool offices in New York! I did not get an offer and was told the position was on hold...

This is a role under Dealreporter, covering ECM. I had an hour-long phone interview with the editor and senior reporter, both based in Taiwan. The next day, I had to start on a 3-business-day reporting test. - I did not have a choice in when I wanted to do the test – they want to test how you deal with stress and time management, creative problem solving. - I was asked to call strangers for information. Upon further clarification, I could claim to be a new reporter or intern at Dealreporter. I could also say I’m doing a reporting test. - When I asked directly, I was told that the article would be used only for test purposes and will not be published. - They did not like that my draft only drew on published articles and asked me to reach out to market sources. - Within the week, the editor published an article on this topic. It included 2 uncited sources. On top of that, I did a 4-hour writing and editing test, 2 articles each. They were fairly standard and covered interpreting term sheets. The tests were supposed to be followed by at least 2 more interviews. Upon asking for interview feedback, the only reason they gave was that I did not complete the reporting task as expected because I did not have primary sources. My concerns about harassing people for the sake of an interview test were ignored.

First there was a phone interview. Then I was invited in for an in-person interview and I had to take a writing/reporting test. Also met the editors who would be supervising my publication.