I saw the role advertised on facebook.com/careers and it looked made for me: my level of experience, exact sector specialisms and working in a team that I had had regular contact with in a previous role. I first contacted a few people within Facebook (either my own contacts or through colleagues) to understand more about the role, working at Facebook and the recruitment process. A huge positive for the company is that everyone you speak to at Facebook is amazingly enthusiastic about working there and very keen to pass that enthusiasm on to you. I submitted a customised, comprehensive CV and cover letter to my main contact at Facebook who said she would pass it on to the HR lead working on this role. Two weeks go by and, fortunately for me, I spent a bit of time prepping for a possible interview (thanks Glassdoor for some great interview question suggestions!) After two weeks, I send my contact a chasing email and at 4.30pm that afternoon, a recruitment manager from Facebook emailed to request a half hour phone interview at 6.30 that evening - lucky I'd done some prep already. On the phone interview, the lady was initially unsure which role I was interviewing for and had not got my CV or cover letter. She told me that the hiring manager was in London in two days time so we had to move quickly. Oh, and the job description online has now changed - they require someone with different sector specialism and technical product experience. We spent 30 mins talking through my CV, why I wanted to work for Facebook and what I thought I could bring to the role, but it was clear that the goal posts had moved and I was no longer suitable for the role... Surprise surprise, no call back. Overall a disappointing experience with a disorganised and unclear process.

I was referred to a position by a friend at Facebook and was immediately sent a rejection letter. The position was posted and filled within 2 days - I've been told that partnership positions have finalists by the time the job is posted. Not sure why there is that lag time. The rejection letter was from one of their advisors who talks to rejected referral candidates. He wanted to discuss other potential opportunities. When I spoke with him, he said that my background aligned well with the original job but it was a timing thing. I guess I was referred to the job late (the day it was posted). Anyway, the call with the advisor was a complete waste of time. He sounded annoyed that he "had" to talk to me (he didn't) and then rushed me through a handful of questions and cut me off every time I was answering. He then told me that my friend at FB should keep referring me to positions. I'm not 100 percent sure why this conversation happened, neither of us got anything out of it. It just annoyed me. I thought it would be cool to work for Instagram but not at this expense. I was made to feel like a nuisance or a gnat that needed to be swatted away. Needless to say, unless your friend is the hiring manager, you likely won't get an interview.