Two phone calls in total. Then totally ghosted. Made it to the last round of the interview process, had a very good conversation with the director and VP and then heard absolutely nothing even after three follow-up emails. One thank you email and then two follow-up emails to the recruiter after finding out the position was taken down from LinkedIn and absolutely zero response. Extremely unprofessional and disrespectful to prospective candidates. Interviewee beware about their hiring and recruiting practices here.
Two interview rounds - initial phone screening, and then just a 1-hour conversation to cover the job responsibilities and allow the interviewee time to ask questions.
The time was split between the Director and VP asking 3 or 4 questions each, with a little bit of time for me to ask my own questions. 1 hour to interview with 2 different people, being the only last round you have in a process, is very rushed and not nearly thorough enough on both sides. WAY too little time to truly get to know a candidate and vice versa. I would suggest a third round that focuses on the technical and any other follow-up, to ensure on both sides are in alignment.
No one is asking you (McClatchy) for the job when following up. They are asking for a 'yes' or 'no.' A simple email stating I did not get the job is perfectly fine. Something like the following would have sufficed and closed out the process: "Unfortunately, we went with another candidate. Thank you for your time and we wish you all the best."
I would think grown adults would have the professionalism and respect to give candidates - who spent a lot of time getting to know their company - the courtesy of a simple response. Lost are the days of recruiters being respectful of people's time and truly having a people-centric approach.
The irony of this is that McClatchy touts that they are all about a "great culture" and post videos on YouTube specifically stating what a great place it is to work. If you had a great culture, you wouldn't treat prospective candidates this way. This gives me an inside look on what it would like to have worked there, had I actually been hired. No, thank you.