I wasn't looking to change jobs but one of BrightEdge's internal recruiters contacted me via LinkedIn. I had a good conversation with him and thought the position sounded interesting, even though it was a slight departure from my career path thus far and my current job. The recruiter gave me some details, and I agreed to a phone interview with a manager. Before the interview, I did some recon and got mixed reviews... One current employee told me that the technology was great and she liked her job, but another friend and former co-worker found the culture "weird" and "hyper-competitive." I also heard references to “drinking the Kool-Aid,” and was told that the office is like a glorified call center. It was nothing I hadn't encountered elsewhere in the tech/startup world but still, it was enough to give me pause. So I went into the interview cautious but interested. The interviewer seemed a little rushed but was nice enough. She asked me some generic questions (describe your background, what's your career plan, etc.), and I asked her some (what are you looking for in an ideal candidate, etc.). After the interview, via email she wished me “good luck with the rest of the process,” which I took to mean that there would be some more, you know, process. I have great credentials and people skills, plus more experience than necessary to do well in this type of position, but I didn’t give my “hard sell,” given what I’d read and heard, and the fact that they'd contacted me. That said, I felt the call went at least well enough to justify another phone interview so I was surprised when the recruiter contacted me the following week saying that the team had decided not to move forward. But while I was annoyed to be summarily dismissed after a single phone interview, what really ticked me off was that the recruiter ignored my email asking for insight as to the team’s reasoning. I expected a canned answer but I didn’t expect radio silence -- that’s just bad manners. I’m pretty sure I dodged a bullet but wow, what a waste of time.

A number of phone interviews along with in-person interviews with the team, and 1 meet and greet/interview with the VP. Personality and brain teaser questions. Just what you would expect. It was a fairly long interview process from the phone screen to the final meet and greet with the VP, taking a little over 2 months to get there. I was excited to have gotten far enough to meet the VP, however The VP was extremely rude during the interview. He yawned constantly and loudly with no shame and seemed to have been paying little or no attention span during my interview, seeming incredibly uninterested. I had never been in an interview where I felt so disrespected. I almost had to question whether the final part of the interview was a stress test or not. Prior to that experience, my interactions with the rest of the team were good. Their interview questions were overall great practice for interviewing for other companies, but I just can't get over how rude and unprofessional the VP was during that interview... It left a sour taste for me.