I applied for the Global Payroll Specialist role at Trip.com because the job description indicated an urgent need to fill the position. However, the interview process was unnecessarily lengthy and poorly managed.
First Interview (28 May): I had an initial interview with the HR Manager.
Second Stage: This was followed by an Excel test, which I passed.
Third Stage: I then had an hour-long interview with two people based in China. They struggled to understand my English and often responded with irrelevant, long-winded answers to my questions.
Fourth Stage: I was invited for a face-to-face interview with the Payroll Manager.
Fifth Stage (10 June): On the same day as the face-to-face interview, I had another short interview with the HR Manager and an HR employee who was new to payroll. He asked irrelevant questions like "If you created your own company, what would be your values?" and couldn't answer basic questions about payroll, admitting he hadn't started processing payroll yet.
This entire process took from 28 May to 10 June, with the final decision only communicated to me on 25 June. In total, I spent around 4 hours in interviews, excluding the time taken to complete the Excel task.
Despite the company's claim of needing someone urgently, their slow and inefficient process contradicted this urgency. Meanwhile, I had received a job offer for a senior position from another company on 7 June after a quick and efficient 2-stage process completed in 12 days. They, too, needed someone urgently but managed to streamline their hiring process effectively.
Additionally, I discovered during the interviews that the role was very manual, with no streamlined processes in place. If this interview process is any indication, the job itself would likely be just as long-winded and inefficient.
Moreover, Trip.com had multiple candidates coming in for face-to-face interviews, which seems outdated in the post-COVID era one would assume a face-to-face interview is the final round between the last two candidates.
Overall, Trip.com's interview process was excessively long and disorganized, especially for a role that was supposedly urgent. If you're looking for a streamlined and professional hiring experience, look elsewhere.