I made it to the final round and failed my interview. 5 week process.
Head of International Growth contacted me via LinkedIn based on my licenses, education and experience working in wealth management. Individual was very nice, professional and all around responsive. Scheduled a phone call one week later to learn more about the position, the company and responsibilities. Had a great conversation on the phone for 30 minutes about the responsibilities including supporting the brokerage operations team, handling customer inquiries and requests, communicating effectively between the customers and engineers etc. A week later I was asked to visit the company and meet the Head of International Growth in person. Had an awesome first experience. Company felt smart, fast-paced, and casual but professional. I then discussed the role further with the recruiter and made sure we both understood the role I was applying for and my current position in my career. I shared some initial reservations about quitting my current job having worked only a year and having given my advisor whom I work with a verbal 2-year commitment (my first mistake). He seemed understanding and empathized with me having worked in retail wealth management earlier in his career. I was then asked to complete a formal written interview in one weeks time. It is supposed to take 3 hours. I took 12 hours because I'm a perfectionist and wanted it to be absolutely perfect. I submitted my written application one week later then got an email from telling me I did great and they were excited to move forward with the interview process. I then was asked to do a phone interview with a current brokerage operations associate (30-45 minutes). I then received a follow-up email that the brokerage operations associate enjoyed speaking with me and that the company wanted to do a final interview on-site with the brokerage operations team and the COO.
I woke up the morning of my interview feeling great. I took the day off of work. I thought the interview went well overall but I must have made a bad impression or raised a red flag somewhere along the way. I can't recall specifically when or how I blundered. In the interviews I think I got carried away with my goals in stating that I wanted to work closely with the engineers and build an advisory function as part of the platform. I think they are currently looking for someone who will verbally express to them that they are interested in solely the brokerage operations role and is passionate about helping clients with operational needs. I think the operative word here, no pun intended, is operations. I made a mistake of talking to much about my experience in advisory and advising clients on investment decisions and not enough on my experience doing operations for clients at my current job. I think this is really important so if you decide to apply for this position I would focus on what skills you bring specifically to the world of operations and customer service.
I did wear a suit and tie to my interview which felt embarrassingly out of touch. I should've known better than to wear a suit especially having visited the company once before. It was nearly diametrically opposed to the atmosphere and environment at Robinhood. I almost immediately regretted wearing the suit the moment I walked into the building. I don't think wearing the suit obviously decided whether I got the job or not but I think I would've been more comfortable and maybe would've made the interviewer more comfortable if I was dressed down a bit.
I was a bit disappointed that my rejection came in the form of a robo-email and not a personal email from the team I had been communicating with for the past 5 weeks. It felt robotic, impersonal and cold. I was a bit put off by this then I remembered that Robinhood is company in the business of making money not in the business of making friends so I snapped back to reality the next day and didn't take it personally, even though the initial automated email smarted.
I followed up asking for specific feedback, either positive or negative, and was told it is HR policy not to give specific feedback. I guess that's just how the cookie crumbles.
Despite not getting the offer I still feel positively about the company. Regardless of how I feel the rejection should've been delivered everyone at Robinhood remained extremely professional, polite, and responsive. I suppose they could've immediately stopped responding to my emails after they decided not to give me the offer but they were nice and entertained my questions to the best of their ability. I have a lot of respect for the founders, the company and its mission to democratize the financial markets. I would've been amazing to be a part of the company. We'll see what happens in the future.
