The process leading up to the onsite interview was great, and it was lovely meeting everyone there. The format of the interview is quite strange - you're in the room full of HR professionals to present your piece. I've never heard of any kind of interview like that before. One interviewer also mentioned another candidate in front of me, asking the recruiter "Is XYZ still coming in later? I really liked her," which I found extremely unprofessional given that I was right there. Overall, it was nice to visit the facility and see what SpaceX does, but I imagine the workload to be stressful and unmanageable.

The interview process was very unconventional. Usually, the topic of compensation is broached in the first call so as to not waste anyone’s time if it is a total mismatch between what the company can offer and what the candidate expects. This didn’t happen. I had about four 30 minute calls spread out over a couple weeks. This is fine, but I’m also used to slightly longer interviews and over video calls so it feels like it’s face to face. All of my interviews were phone calls. I thought this was a little unusual but fine. I then get an email saying they have a positive update for me - which, by the way, implies an offer. Nope! The good news was another interview lol! However, this would be the final event and it would be in-person. This was something I was excited about! I was told I would have to do a presentation, would get a tour, etc. But before proceeding, they finally brought up comp. The MAX they could do for the higher level HR position (as they had openings at various levels) would have been a $10k pay cut to my base. I was a little annoyed because if I had known that, I probably wouldn’t have interviewed. However, I know that equity could be a really valuable part of the package - maybe even worth a pay cut. I asked about equity and was given very general information - hard to assign value to or evaluate within the comp package. The person I was speaking to told me she would send me information about their equity so that I could consider it and have more info and then decide if I wanted to proceed. That was at least two weeks ago now. They ghosted me lol. Cool.

Two phone calls. First was a more general screening call with some basic interview questions, second call was more of a formal interview with detailed questions about times complex situations were resolved.