I interviewed with Ahold for an HR Analytics position after being contacted directly by a recruiter. This was particularly disappointing because I had previously interviewed with Ahold for a Finance Analyst role and had an excellent experience. The finance interviewers were prepared, the conversations were engaging, and communication throughout the process was prompt. Unfortunately, the HR experience could not have been more different. The interview felt unstructured from the start. The interviewers commented that they were still getting the interview process figured out and would "have it down by the end." As a candidate, that was not reassuring. Rather than feeling like I was being evaluated through a polished hiring process, I felt like I was participating in one that was still being developed. I was interviewed by a new manager and an analyst who has only been at Ahold for five months. The technical portion also fell short of what I would expect for a senior analytics role. I was shown internal dashboards and asked questions that required information not available on the dashboard being presented, forcing the conversation to jump between reports. More importantly, very little time was spent understanding my own work. I came prepared to discuss production dashboards, analytics projects, design decisions, and how I solve business problems, but those conversations never really happened. Instead, much of the interview relied on scripted questions and self-rating scales (rate yourself from 1-10), which did little to demonstrate what I could actually contribute. The communication afterward was the most disappointing part of the experience. I was told I would hear back the following week. After that timeline passed, I sent two polite follow-up emails and received no response. Five weeks later, I received only a generic rejection email. I have no issue with not being selected. Every company has the right to choose the candidate they believe is the best fit. What I do expect is a hiring process that is organized, respectful of a candidate's time, and genuinely interested in understanding their experience. That was not my experience with this team. Given my previous positive experience interviewing with Ahold, I hope this reflects the practices of one hiring team rather than the company as a whole. However, based on this experience, I left with a significantly different impression than I had before.

Snel reactie, duidelijke instructies hoe voor te bereiden en waarheen te gaan. Na de eerste ronde kreeg ik alleen de inlogcode voor een competentietest en werd ik hier niet over gebeld dat ik dit mocht maken, terwijl dit wel zo gecommuniceerd was. Ik zou hierna binnen 5 werkdagen antwoord op krijgen, niet gelukt en werd gemaild met een basic afwijsmail zonder inhoud dat ik niet door ben. Geen belletje, geen uitleg niks.