I was sent a Calendly to talk to the recruiter. She had nothing available for over 3 weeks so I emailed asking if she had anything sooner. Rather than replying, she just sent a calendar invite for 2 days at a certain time without asking. I was appreciative she found some time, but thought it was weird she didn't ask if I was free then.
The interview was Zoom. This could have just been a phone call since her camera was off. She gave a high level description of company and role. But then started diving into "expectations", how this may be work from home but they expect work to be done and if I wanted to slack off all day this was not the company for me, as they're paying people to work. It thought that was incredibly weird and quite obvious that's how jobs and careers work. I'm sure she had a point behind it, but I thought it was off putting.
She then asked the question "describe a challenge you overcame in your last job". I started to answer high level, specifically a manager/product related challenge. She cut me off half way and said it was a great story but not what she asked. I asked her to clarify the question and she said "Look, I know you're nervous but I think you're doing great. Im looking for two things - are you a good fit for Gusto, box checked I think you're great, what level should you be as an engineer". I didn't really know how to respond, but I said "so you're looking for a technical answer specifically?". I began to answer the technical version of this question, she cut me off again and said "I think you're a level 2". I told her that I'm really only interested in senior positions since I've been working at that levels equivalent for some time, She told me "okay, we'll lets see how you do in the interview process and we can decide after".
Finally she began explaining the technical process (same as every other company) and asked if I had any questions. I asked what team specifically I was interviewing for and if she could give me a high level breakdown of how product teams are organized. She then recommended that I don't ask any "filler questions" and that I could find that online.
I was beyond shocked by this recruiter. While I'm sure she has to speak with tons of applicants, that call killed my desire to work at gusto.
When the coordinator (different person) sent a link to schedule the technical interview, I let her know that I'm no longer interested but I'd love to give some feedback on how Gusto can improve their recruiting process. She simply forwarded me back to the recruiter...