I was contacted by a recruiter who arranged a technical phone screen and then a two-hour onsite interview. Programming exercises for all technical interviews were conducted via the CoderPad website. The onsite visit had two technical interviews, one with each interviewer, followed by an HR interview. One of the two technical interviewers for the onsite visit was remote, and so it was arranged over videoconference.
The onsite technical interviewer seemed to mislead me into thinking that the position involved individual responsibility and assignments rather than shared team assignments. This misunderstanding hurt my candidacy.
The HR interviewer was distrustful, and this was not a pleasant experience. Some of the HR questions were:
- Why are you looking to move from your current position and employer?
- How was your most recent performance review at your current employer? What were the remarks? Were there any negative remarks?
- People who succeed at Citadel are always hungry for work. Are you one such person? (Note that this definition of success is merely the HR interviewer's sordid perspective, and not a true reflection of what it actually takes to succeed at one's job. It is also very possibly an indication of the twelve hour workdays that you can expect if you do get hired.)
After the interview, two weeks went by, after which time I received feedback from the recruiter stating that I was not selected. The indicated reason was entirely bogus.
