The Washington Post Interview Questions

Interview

Things moved pretty quick between application and initial phone screen with the recruiter. After that it, I was ghosted. Being in HR, I understand that not every candidate is the right fit but at least have the courtesy to send candidates a turndown email.

Interview

Very moody and blunt recruiter. But doesn't like if you are blunt with him. Was more into talking himself than listening to the other person. There were few good moments though but he came back to his original self soon.

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at The Washington Post (Edgewater, MD (US)).

Interview

I had an interview with two guys it was actually a pretty good interview. Very friendly, they asked a set of open ended questions pertaining to my experience. Afterwards I got to ask my questions then I was told I get the next steps in about a week.

Three weeks later and I’ve heard nothing from them. I think it’s pretty rude to just blatantly disregard someone applying for a position. Even a generic rejection email would be better than just have someone waiting and continuously looking out for a reply that’s never coming. Which is why even though the actual interview and interviewers were good the process as a whole gets a negative from me.

Application

I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at The Washington Post.

Interview

I was first contacted by a recruiter and the process took about a week.
The interview process began with a half-hour phone screen with a developer.
The following week, I had a face-to-face interview with the same developer and a manager. The face-to-face consisted of two sessions - one with each individual.
I received positive feedback from the developer. He was friendly and welcoming.
The meeting with him lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. During this time, we spoke about my past experiences, and he asked a few in-depth technical questions and two whiteboard questions. He offered me a mini-bottle of water, which I accepted, and he left.

Next up was the manager.
Before he entered (it was a glass room), his expression should have cued me in as to what was about to happen.
I was grilled with four whiteboard questions for two straight hours.
He seemed upset. He never smiled. He spoke if he had to. My attempts at conversation or discussion of any kind (even with regard to the whiteboard problems) were greeted with nothing but negative energy, and answers which were either curt or snide.
After answering his first question on binary search trees - one of the more challenging questions I've seen - he seemed to tire of me describing what I was doing given the limited board space, and simply erased my answer and moved on.
He pounded away at his keyboard while I worked, pausing intermittently to ignore or partially respond to the comments I made about the code, or to point out holes in my logic.
During this marathon session, I was not offered use of the bathroom, or asked if I needed to take a break or to have any more water. I was offered use of the bathroom as I left though.
At the end of the whiteboard session, he rushed me through any questions I had for him.

I reached out to the recruiter a week or so after the interview.
After 3 hours, 15 minutes, and 6 whiteboard questions, the feedback I received from the recruiter was that the manager said he couldn't make a decision because I was the only candidate that interviewed.

As a person of color, I have experienced various degrees of disrespect and negative attitudes on interviews. This was one of the worse experiences I have had.

Application

I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at The Washington Post.

Interview

I applied via LinkedIn and was contacted by a recruiter a week later for a phone interview. I then completed a presentation task and was invited for an e-interview a few days later.

This was my first time encountering outright race discrimination during the hiring process. As soon as the interviewer saw that I was a person of color, she commented "Oh...hi". The interiew was over before it started. From then on, she acted as though she could care less about the interview and was just asking me questions for the sake of time.

As Glassdoor reviewers mention, The Washington Post is not an inclusive place for people of color.

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at The Washington Post.

Interview

I applied online. And I couldn't believe it and was jumping for joy when I got an email from the recruiter reaching out asking when we could connect. I gave her some times, and she confirmed. Six hours before the interview, she writes me saying 'can we do tomorrow instead of today?' I say fine. The next day, 30 minutes before the scheduled interview..., another email apologizing saying can I do a week from now instead. I say fine, but ask for a different time than she proposes. We go back and forth and virtually she is just too busy for anything other than what she is proposing, so we schedule for another week away. The day of the interview, silence on my email and phone. I ping her on email, no response. Finally about 10 minutes into the interview she calls. It feels rushed, we end at the scheduled time, and we go over a series of general questions. She tells me on the phone to give her my availability via email after we hang up for yet another chat with her...which will be more of a 'deep dive' into my experience. I immediately follow up with my experience via email. 6 days go by, nothing. I ping her. Nothing. Another 2 days go by. I ping again as I had carved out the times I had proposed, and needed to know if I had to keep them available. She responds she's just been too busy and she'll reach out when she can. About 2 weeks go by. I ping. She responds immediately to let me know she'll be in touch shortly. Nothing for 15 more days. I'm unemployed, dying to work for a brand name Company and one with otherwise great Glassdoor reviews, and desperately check in again. She responds within 10 minutes to let me know interviews are still happening...and she'll have an update in a few days. At this point I've given up. I've never been lead on for so long. Two months of emails and only one 20 minute phone interview!! I am so incredibly disappointed as I was just so happy to even get an interview and then all of this happened. I expected better. People work here! People complete the interview process! How come I couldn't? And why would you tell me I'm moving forward and just keep up the ghosting? It was incredibly unprofessional, and I expected more from The Washington Post. I cannot believe this job is still posted to this day, 3 months later. I really would have loved to have been considered, and instead I just got jerked around.

Application

I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at The Washington Post.

Interview

I did a recruiter screen, a take-home coding interview, an in-person technical interview with the development team, and then a behavioral interview with the management team.

The phone screen was to make sure I had the skills listed on the job description. The coding interview was a take-home that required me to build a REST API application in 48 hours. The technical interview was to talk through my approach to the coding interview and ask me about the technologies I knew and could bring to the team, and the behavioral interview was team fit and motivations.

I actually enjoyed the process, Fair, challenging, but really quick. The recruiter screen really was the toughest part.

Application

I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at The Washington Post.

Interview

I applied online and received a call within days. 2 interviews. One with HR the 2nd with the hiring managers. I received an offer after about 2 weeks. They did my background check and I which was quick and I started right away. Training took about a week and was very thorough.

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at The Washington Post (Washington, DC (US)) in March 2020.

Interview

Very straightforward, asked about past experiences and my experience in computer science. It was more of a conversation style interview. I also got to ask him about the culture and style of the workplace.

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at The Washington Post.

Interview

HR contacted me after I submitted my resume. It was quite simple. Then I got another round with hiring manager for 45 minutes. They asked about the projects I've done before and told me the role and the team.