I applied for a Launch Engineer position at SpaceX mid May 2015. Several weeks later I received a call back from a recruiter who wanted to set up a phone interview. I received this call while I was in transit, and thus the recruiter left a voicemail. I attempted to contact her the very next day, but did not establish a live connection. This happened on a Friday, and I left a message. I attempted to contact her again on Monday, though the call went unanswered. I followed up again on Wednesday, still with no answer. Finally, a week removed I got through to the person who originally contacted me. She seemed nice enough and we set up a time for a phone interview.
I believed the phone interview went well--I've definitely had more difficult interviews in the past. One odd thing though, which I have never experienced, was that SpaceX was interested in knowing my SAT/ACT/GRE scores in addition to my GPA. Being 30 years old, with graduate school, a published peer-reviewed article, and 4 years of work experience under my belt, I kind of found this humorous, but I complied with their request and thankfully was able to track down my old scores. I phoned them again two days later with the information. The recruiter was glad with this news, and informed me that she had sent on my information to a higher manager, I assume one who would be integral in my next round of interviewing. At the time however, she told me that this person was in the midst of SpaceX's latest rocket launch, and that he was particularly busy. That late June launch proved to be a failure, and I figured that the company was thrown into a state of internal unrest trying to figure out what happened to the rocket.
After about a month, I considered the opportunity dead. I am now two months removed, and still have yet to hear anything back. I tried calling the recruiter once more, but again, straight to voicemail. This seemingly abrupt dismissal, prompted me to do some research on the company's hiring practices. From reading employee reviews both on GD and Indeed, it seems that SpaceX generally hires young (mostly straight-out-of-college) engineers and employees who they judge to be in the top echelon of their respective fields. This translates to high academic achievement from top ranked universities. Practical real-world work experience, however, doesn't seem to be on their radar. My engineering program was good, but it is not a top 10 ranked one. This is probably what edged me out of consideration, though these facts are readily apparent on my resume, so I don't know why they contacted me in the first place.
I would like to know if other people have had a similar recruiting experience with SpaceX. I cannot say that I hold their HR department in high regard, as it was difficult trying to get in contact with people who initially reached out to me, and who apparently don't have the time to send one simple email saying I'm no longer being considered for the position. I was really interested in working for a company which is truly trying to change the world, but I guess I won't get the opportunity.
