Recruiter screen call: The recruiter was nice and began by introducing the company and its mission. They asked detailed questions about my background, experience, and interests. Toward the end of the call, they asked three basic statistics questions to test my foundational knowledge.

I recently interviewed at Upstart, and it turned out to be the worst interview experience I’ve ever had. After my final onsite interview with the team, I received a call from HR telling me that they were happy to extend an offer. They just needed to complete a reference check — one from a previous manager and one from a former colleague — and also wanted to arrange a quick 30-minute call (which later on got extended to 1hr without explanation) with the company’s VP of Machine Learning. During that call with the VP. She asked some quite “uncommoner” questions— things like, “What is your dream?” — which felt completely out of place in a professional interview. When she asked about my ideal career path, I said that I hoped to work for a company where I could learn, do work I’m passionate about, have good mentorship and guidance, and grow in a transparent environment with clear promotion paths. The moment I mentioned promotions, her tone shifted — it almost felt like she was offended. She pressed me on why I viewed promotions as so important, and the entire mood of the interview changed after that. She asked me two statistics questions after that, which I answered fine and she seems to agree as well. A few days later, I got another call from HR. He sounded surprised himself as he told me that the team had decided not to move forward with an offer after all. He said he was still gathering details on the reasoning, but he apologized and admitted that he was just as shocked as I was. I felt so confused and disappointed. If the “vibe check” with the VP was ultimately going to determine the offer, why go through the reference check first — something that 99% of companies don’t even require before making a final decision? It just didn’t make sense that after completing the reference check, they suddenly decided not to offer me the position.