About two weeks after applying online at their website, I received an email from an HR person -- although she did not show up in a LinkedIn search, so I'm not sure that was her real name. Anyway, it was an invitation for a phone interview, to take a personality assessment, and to schedule a series of assessment tests.
I was asked to provide my availability for two different times over a period of 7 days. I did so immediately and was contacted about two days later, again by email, with the date and time of the phone interview. In this second email, I was asked to take the Rembrandt personality assessment. That didn't take long--typical questions to see if you would fit with the job.
The phone interview was pleasant. It was conducted by a person from the group I would be working in. She was courteous and fairly informative about the job and environment, although there was a lot of hyperbole with comments that all sounded the same: "It's the best place I've ever worked. The people are great. I'm learning so much. Everyone is so smart!" That raised a red flag because no place is perfect, yet there seemed to be quite the effort to make me believe that Epic is. ...
I had already scheduled to take my assessment tests the next day, so I knew I wouldn't hear anything from HR until after my tests. So the next evening, I sat down at my computer and logged in with the remote proctor service (Proctor U). It's a nice option to be able to take the tests in your own environment, although it's a bit weird because someone is watching you through your web cam the entire time. And, you tend to forget that because you are so engrossed in the tests. I hope the proctor doesn't report back to Epic what you did/said while taking the test. About halfway through, I remembered that I was taking these tests and immediately thought, "I hope I haven't said or done anything inappropriate." Definitely a "Big Brother" moment for me.
Anyway, I was told to allow 2-3 hours to take the tests. I had 6 to take and I did them all in 1 hour, 50 minutes. You are graded on speed and accuracy, so I was glad I finished them all in less than 2 hours.
They are interesting tests. I signed something that said I would not divulge information about the tests, so I can't say anything more. I will recommend that you are well rested and have lots of protein going to your brain before you sit down to take these assessments.
I waited one week and then received an email from another HR person saying that they were moving on to other candidates. I got the distinct impression from the wording of the email that they thought I had too much work experience and I didn't fit their demographics (I'm not right out of bachelor's land and I've worked in the real world for more than ten years). I was looking forward to meeting Epic people and checking out their much-discussed offices in Verona, but, alas, that was not to be in my future.
Oh well, time to move on to somewhere that wants an employee with experience, a graduate degree, and some seasoning.
