I went through two rounds of interviews at Inkitt before deciding on another offer. Throughout the process, worked directly with recruiter who kept timely updates with me on the process and gave me clear expectations of what was needed for each step. Spoke with two members of product team after an initial recruiter screening, which went in depth on my past experience, looking beyond the standard behavioral questions to dig deeply into my motivations and success metrics in past roles. There was some hiccough around timing and hiring for the role, but expectations were communicated at each step so I never felt in the dark about what was happening and why.

Inkitt’s interview process was the most unprepared, disorganized, and convoluted process I have ever been a part of. After the first two preliminary phone interviews, Inkitt requested an in-person interview as their next step. I don’t live in the same country as their headquarters, so I suggested a date on my end, which they confirmed. However, that quickly changed and I was asked to be flexible and open to adjusting my schedule according to the interviewer’s availability. The person who was supposedly interviewing me was no longer available on my proposed initial date, so a new date was offered by Inkitt, confirmed on my end, but still not set in stone despite everything. After more back and forth on whether my next interview would be in-person or remotely the company decided that, less than 24 hours prior to my interview, it would be in person. This meant that I was given limited time to prepare for an international flight the next day. Upon arrival, the person who’s schedule we were trying to accommodate this whole time was still unavailable to meet with me, which resulted in my being interviewed by the same team members that I had already spoken to for over 3 hours on the phone during my first two interviews. Talk about redundant. Leading up to this, I was informed that all expenses related to the interview would be reimbursed upon my return, only to discover that what the company deems “related to the interview” are only the cab fares to and from the office. Of course the company paid for the flights (though it is worth mentioning that 1) they did not offer any flight options to me, they simply scheduled what they thought would be best/cheapest and 2) they booked a flight with an unnecessary layover, which added 3 hours each way to my travel), however they told me that all expenses incurred apart from the cab fares were my responsibility. This included travel to and from the airport in my hometown and a bottle of water and snacks at the airport for my 7-hour journeys each way. I didn’t even have lunch, so as to not increase the amount I would expense for. The fact that Inkitt would not cover my expenses in full does not land lightly with me, especially considering the role I was interviewing for. As a manager, it is important to take care of your team and employees, and the moment Inkitt assumed that any expense I submitted for reimbursement was not directly related to the interview immediately showed how much they (don’t) care for their prospective and, dare I say, current employees. Expecting someone to drop everything in less than 24 hours for an interview, to take them out of their house and ask them to travel via a mode of transportation where they cannot bring food or water with them, to increase their travel time by 3 hours because of an unnecessary layover between two cities, and still ask them to cover their own transportation and meal expenses - which would not have existed in my daily spendings if it were not for the interview summoned by Inkitt - is unacceptable. I had to fight hard to get the company to understand this and was finally told that my expenses would be immediately processed. However, even after this was promised in writing, Inkitt was still petty enough to not cover the two bottles of water and snacks. Their justification was that I had willingly agreed to an in-person interview, even though I had been told that it was the next step of the interview process. For those of you interviewing know that it is optional, apparently. The fact that they would skimp on the smallest expense not only makes me feel relieved for having not been offered to work for them (I was told I lacked a skill that the role required, which funnily enough wasn’t in the job description when I initially applied), but it shows that as much as Inkitt wants to be taken seriously as a company they still have a startup mentality. Don’t get me wrong, I have worked for startup companies before that have been wonderful to work for, and that is because they knew how to treat their employees and interview candidates. If Inkitt thinks that a way to cut costs is by not covering basic needs for human beings, then there are very serious issues with the company’s core values that should be brought to light.