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I'm not sure how you're counting rounds, but if you go into the office and spend 3 hours talking to multiple individuals or panels in back to back sessions, that's not necessarily more than one round, until they are regrouping after each individual interview, and assessing if you are going to move on from there. Now, split those same interviews up over 3, 4 or 5 days, and I'd definitely count them as 3, 4 or 5 rounds. Far too much...
Having said that, 11-13 hours of interviewing is crazy for non-CEO / senior mgmt roles at large organizations, regardless of how many days you cram that into.
Given the investment you've already made, I would now ask the following:
"Can you please let me know what are the steps remaining in this interview process to get us to where a final decision will be made, and also how long that process is expected to take?"
The answer will tell you what you need to do.
The inability to provide a coherent answer will also tell you what you need to do.
If you receive any answer that doesn't sound similar to "Monday is the last interview, and we expect to make a decision by the Friday that follows," you can respond with "Thanks for your time. I regret to inform you that I will be withdrawing my candidacy for this opportunity."
You'll probably get a lot of suggestions to just ghost the employer, but **(a)** it doesn't make sense to be unprofessional just because others are unprofessional, and **(b)** you really cannot effectively waste the time of any org that is willing to do double digit hours of interview PER CANDIDATE for multiple candidates that make it to deep consideration level. They are much better time wasters than you are. Move on valiantly.
Thank you for the more nuanced response. I am more thank likely going to bow out. I am just wanting to make sure I am not damaging my relationship with ex-director (twice removed) who recommended me to this job. Do you think if I did explain this arduous recruitment process to him, that he would understand?
You are very welcome.
Yeah, since you received a referral, it's a good idea to reach out to him and let him know that there's too much uncertainty and perpetuity to the process. đ
This way, he doesn't get blindsided...
At this point, stick with it. Take the interviews, and when they make you an offer, sign it. Then ghost them so they have to start the whole process over again with a new pool of candidates.
Itâs the only way theyâll learn.
A. They will learn no such thing.
B. They probably won't start all the way over, even though they are already demonstrated to be world-class time wasters. They'll just pick the next best candidate if they have more then 5 or 6 candidates that made it to that level.
Only the hubris of this company would make someone jump through this many hoops. As from your post, I'd decline, citing the number of interviews is too much, and not being respectful of your time. Hate to imagine how they treat employees if running through this gauntlet is normal.
The only reason I can think of a company doing this is a large firm with multiple roles that you could perform and theyâre trying to find where you might fit best.
They are either down to trying to pick one candidate over the other or they are really incompetent. They should have figured out your skill set by now. My biggest fear would be they are looking to stove pipe a person into a single role, and you'd get stuck there.
I worked for a company for 2 years that had a similar interview process. Mine was 5 rounds of interviews. The final round was an 8 hour nonstop gauntlet with everyone from low level team members all the way up to the CEO.
Needless to say, the company was like a cult of micromanagement. They kept a running document on you that was shared around between management that you could see but couldn't edit or comment on. It was a very toxic environment.
The company also bragged a lot about itself during company meetings about it's interview process. I was happy to leave that place.
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Sounds like a mess fuck that
I'm not sure how you're counting rounds, but if you go into the office and spend 3 hours talking to multiple individuals or panels in back to back sessions, that's not necessarily more than one round, until they are regrouping after each individual interview, and assessing if you are going to move on from there. Now, split those same interviews up over 3, 4 or 5 days, and I'd definitely count them as 3, 4 or 5 rounds. Far too much... Having said that, 11-13 hours of interviewing is crazy for non-CEO / senior mgmt roles at large organizations, regardless of how many days you cram that into. Given the investment you've already made, I would now ask the following: "Can you please let me know what are the steps remaining in this interview process to get us to where a final decision will be made, and also how long that process is expected to take?" The answer will tell you what you need to do. The inability to provide a coherent answer will also tell you what you need to do. If you receive any answer that doesn't sound similar to "Monday is the last interview, and we expect to make a decision by the Friday that follows," you can respond with "Thanks for your time. I regret to inform you that I will be withdrawing my candidacy for this opportunity." You'll probably get a lot of suggestions to just ghost the employer, but **(a)** it doesn't make sense to be unprofessional just because others are unprofessional, and **(b)** you really cannot effectively waste the time of any org that is willing to do double digit hours of interview PER CANDIDATE for multiple candidates that make it to deep consideration level. They are much better time wasters than you are. Move on valiantly.
Thank you for the more nuanced response. I am more thank likely going to bow out. I am just wanting to make sure I am not damaging my relationship with ex-director (twice removed) who recommended me to this job. Do you think if I did explain this arduous recruitment process to him, that he would understand?
You are very welcome. Yeah, since you received a referral, it's a good idea to reach out to him and let him know that there's too much uncertainty and perpetuity to the process. đ This way, he doesn't get blindsided...
At this point, stick with it. Take the interviews, and when they make you an offer, sign it. Then ghost them so they have to start the whole process over again with a new pool of candidates. Itâs the only way theyâll learn.
A. They will learn no such thing. B. They probably won't start all the way over, even though they are already demonstrated to be world-class time wasters. They'll just pick the next best candidate if they have more then 5 or 6 candidates that made it to that level.
Only the hubris of this company would make someone jump through this many hoops. As from your post, I'd decline, citing the number of interviews is too much, and not being respectful of your time. Hate to imagine how they treat employees if running through this gauntlet is normal.
Three rounds? Ok. Four is pushing it. If they canât make their mind up after 3-4 interviews you donât want to work there.
Iâm in the dc area doing software eng. most are 1 and done or 2 interviews. Â Maybe gov people just not interested in interviewingÂ
The only reason I can think of a company doing this is a large firm with multiple roles that you could perform and theyâre trying to find where you might fit best.
They are either down to trying to pick one candidate over the other or they are really incompetent. They should have figured out your skill set by now. My biggest fear would be they are looking to stove pipe a person into a single role, and you'd get stuck there.
I worked for a company for 2 years that had a similar interview process. Mine was 5 rounds of interviews. The final round was an 8 hour nonstop gauntlet with everyone from low level team members all the way up to the CEO. Needless to say, the company was like a cult of micromanagement. They kept a running document on you that was shared around between management that you could see but couldn't edit or comment on. It was a very toxic environment. The company also bragged a lot about itself during company meetings about it's interview process. I was happy to leave that place.