8y
This is Olivier (CEO). On behalf of myself and all of Aircall, I would like to sincerely apologize that this was your experience. I’m very sorry you felt this way, as this was neither mine, nor anyone at the company’s intention.
For what it's worth, I would like to explain my rationale and what I have learned from your feedback:
The main objective of our interview with candidates is to understand your interests and be sure the fit would be mutually beneficial, both professionally and personally. Hence my questions about the driving factors behind your move to New York (personal reasons, attractiveness of the city - or just for the role/company). I apologize if those questions came off distasteful or offensive in anyway.
In such a short video interview, my aim is to read through any facade and truly understand who you are as a person and what you're looking for. Sometimes, this includes some rather direct questions to observe a candidate’s candid reaction. So to answer your question, yes, they are interview tactics. But the teachable moment for me here is that there may be more efficient and less confrontational tactics that I could use, and in the future, I’ll be paying close attention to this and improving it.
Additionally, we have a company-wide culture of candor in the way we give each other feedback - and I have always felt it more beneficial for a candidate to get direct feedback in real-time. And in those instances, I do appreciate some push-back from the candidate to justify his/her position. I remain firm on the idea of giving live feedback, and it has proven very positive with a few of our best hires. But in the end, I realize it’s a CEO to entry-level position interview, and I will be more sensitive about the questions I ask of candidates in the future.
Regarding answers to "thank you" emails, I must admit I generally don't answer these, and I let the hiring manager follow up. When you wrote your post, we were finalizing interviews with other candidates and wanted to wait before answering you, but be assured we respond to each and every candidate we interview.
Finally, I make it a point to personally know everyone we hire, and this interview is my first opportunity to do that. But any professional relationship is a two-way street, and I see interviews as a way for candidates to confirm they'd be happy to work along the interviewer. Clearly, I did not convince you on this and there's a least one positive outcome: you could make up your mind.
I wish you all the best in your search.
