I had a phone screening with a recruiter in November 2025 for the Program Manager position at the Rivian Foundation. After confirming with me twice on the day of the interview, the recruiter was 20 minutes late to our scheduled call, then sent me a NDA that I was required to review and sign before beginning the interview. The next hour involved me listening to this recruiter's personal journey at Rivian and his nonstop monologue about what a great company it was. The only question he asked me was why I was interested in the job. It culminated in him saying that he would schedule a second interview right away with one of the hiring managers as soon as I responded to a few questions. Later that evening, I received a list of 12 short answer questions via text message and was assured that as soon as I submitted my responses, that I would hear back to schedule a next interview in 48-72 hours. After not hearing anything for a month, I followed up and received an automatic response that I had not been selected to move forward. It was a relief and I really felt like I dodged a bullet in continuing with the interview process. My experience with the recruiter was so bizarre that it turned me off from the company altogether. The only valuable piece of information I received from the screening call that the salary range for the program manager position is 112K - 150K.

The process was clear, both the recruiter and the hiring manager were pleasant to talk to. Didn't get to the third step, but still it was a good experience overall. Didn't wait much for replies, they responded when they said they would.