They have the MOST inefficient hiring process EVER. Buckle-up this is going to be long winded. There was a total of 5 interviews and 1 assignment spread out across 1.5 months. My first interview was April 30, 2024. I jumped through many hoops only to be informed June 11, 2024 that I was not being offered a position. I only met with HR people and the President. I did not meet with one person from the department I was supposed to work in.
I ran their silly little gauntlet only for them to ask my for references, and NOT call them before sending me the decline email. Why ask for references if you're not going to call them? I was lead to believe I was doing well in the hiring process and that I had made the cut to the next stage. There were no signs of me performing below expectations.
Interview 1: With Level 1 HR person, a typical screening call that lasted 10 mins. Kind of pointless really.
Interview 2: With Level 2 HR person, just 2 situational based questions with a lot of follow-up questions. Should have been combine with Interview 1. Lasted about 20 mins.
Take Home Assignment: A very simple assignment. You have 48 hours to submit it. It should not take you more than 90 mins to complete. It's a landing page and they ask you how would you go about organizing the build of this land page.
Interview 3: With Level 2 HR again. Work experience and deep dive into skills. Likely the most relevant interview as we actually discussed my fit with the position. Lasted about 1 hour.
Interview 4: With Level 3 HR. The cultural call. This is the are you "cool" enough to work here call. A lot of personal questions, nothing you can really prepare for. Way too many questions; it was excessive to say the least. This should be combined with interview 3. This lasted 1 hour.
Interview 5: With the President. He asks you a lot of repeat questions from the first 4 interviews. He allows you time to ask him questions about the department (FINALLY! The HR people can't answer specific questions about the role). A very uninspiring conversation that can accurately be described as vapid. This lasted about 1 hour.
Reference check: They ask for 3 references. 1 has to be a pervious manager.
Notable things:
• They record every interview without asking for permission.
• A lot of back an forth with level 1 HR booking interviews. (not sure why they have a designated person who scheduled everyone's meetings)
• The president does not review the interview footage and asks you repeat questions from all the previous interviews.
• The president confessed his love for Jesus (no really, this actually happened).
• They use Hubstaff to track employee's day to day activities.
• Husband/Wife owned and operated
• Red flag questions such as have you ever been yelled at by a client? (Does this happen a lot at BSA?)
Food for thought:
If this is how inefficient and ineffective their HR processes are, how does the rest of the company operate?
I applied online. I interviewed at Blacksmith Agency in May 2024
Interview
The interview was straightforward. I actually moved to the next stage but no response from BSA. I think the HR needs to do better. You see a lot of reviews that points to the fact that people where ghosted. Bad practice!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
tell me about your pm experience
salary expectation
why do you want to come to BSA
I moved to the next stage, but I had a family emergency on the interview day and asked to reschedule. Since then all my emails to them were never responded to.