SIGH. Netflix recruiting, I had such high hopes for you. The recruiting team & HR is always praised saying how great each and everyone of you all are. The cutthroat environment of only high-performers made me believe that the recruiting process would be some what of a high caliber interview process. I’m sad and disappointed to say that mine wasn’t. After reaching out to a Director directly, I was sent an interview request from a Researcher. This researcher had less than a year of experience. I was hesitant initially but I thought, hey, it’s Netflix, she must be solid to make it at least that long. Gosh, I was so wrong. The call started 5-6 minutes late. She apologized and laid out the outline for the phone conversation (typical layout: going over your background first, recruiter asks you questions and goes over the position, and question time at the end). First couple minutes through the phone call, I can already tell it’s not going well. Was it me? Or was it her? I can definitely let you know that the tone of the Researcher’s voice already made a statement. She wasn’t interested... not even at a bare minimum. Was she forced to screen me? It sure felt like it. The call was VERY rushed. I get that it was for 30 minutes but calling me late, that’s on you. I asked her questions at the end and you know what a recruiter’s pet peeve is? Not answering the darn question. I asked her about the typical req load and offices that I would recruit for. She only answered the latter. So how are you going to judge me as a recruiter and pass on me when you can’t even do a good job screening me? I’m not sure if she was taught about “candidate experience” but here’s my thing. Most candidates take time to research and prepare for the call, even taking time off as needed from work. At the very least, we want to chat to someone who can act interested so the prep and the time is worth it. One Researcher or a Recruiter can leave a bad taste for a candidate. I hope that they can train their newer teammates better because I would hate for anyone to go through what I did.

I submitted my resume to a recruiter via LinkedIn and she got my resume into the right hands, and I had a phone interview the next day with a researcher who ended up shepherding me through the entire interview process, calling me each step of the way to ensure all of my questions were answered. After a few rounds of Skype interviews, I was flown out to meet the whole time. I found everyone to be passionate, friendly, and incredibly helpful. Overall, the process was incredibly efficient and ensured a positive candidate experience.