WordPress VIP interview questions

This was the strangest interview period that I've ever experienced and seemed more like a fishing expedition than VIP really looking for talent. They ask you to do a paid $25 per hour trial period and then towards the end of the trial, you will present a scenario. The estimated trial period was 10 to 14 days (they said). The objectives were clearly defined and I was excited to get started. They provided instructions on how to set up a Proxy and access their internal directory. This was a challenge to begin with and I had to pay an IT expert to help get me plugged in. Here comes the strange part. After you're enabled on their Slack, the corporate culture becomes obvious. It seems to be a very uptight work space. If you're accustomed to a more relaxed Slack environment, then VIP is not the place for you. Everyone seems to be on their p's and q's at all times. The trial workload is as a full time job so juggling that and your regular job is brutal. You have to set up meetings of 30 minutes with at least 5 teammates. They also ask that you document your steps and thought process in a provided work space. I didn't log anything because I didn't see the need and I thought that if I made a killer presentation that should suffice. I presented to rave reviews but a few days after, I learned that I would not be offered the role. The reason was because I was told what to do (I met with the Sales leader and asked if I was on the right track and he made suggestions which I adhered to). I never asked him to tell me what to do, I just did what they recommended, which is to ask others for guidance. It was actually a relief that I wasn't offered a position because I can see that I would not be happy in this stifling place. What was even more telling of the pompousness, they didn't even have the decency to send me an email invitation to my evaluation outcome, they posted it in Slack so if I hadn't logged into Slack, I wouldn't have known. Then he scheduled a meeting to tell me that I didn't get the job but was dismissive when I asked for feedback on ‘why’. It is unconscionable to expect professionals to dedicate so much of their time to VIP’s interview process. Here is where some corporate executives think that they possess a false sense of importance and that they can require that applicants be put through the rigors to secure a paying position. . I feel sorry for anyone who is genuinely searching for a job and having to be put through this process and I am sorry that I wasted my valuable time. Don't be like me and waste your time unless you're desperate!!

This marathon process took over four months. It consisted of multiple preliminary interviews before a (paid) trial component. The trial took about 5-6 weeks, consisting of about 3-4 working hours each day. The trial centered on helping a hypothetical client, using available documentation to handle client questions and requests. It felt like the trial was 100% about resourcefulness and communication skills. This was brutal alongside a full-time job. As this is a distributed company, the work was both time-sensitive yet asynchronous, which was tricky. The trial was also sequential — you could sabotage a future step if you missed a detail, made a mistake, or if you didn’t get a response from your manager in a timely fashion. My manager provided incredibly thoughtful and detailed responses, in a very inconsistent manner. The latter portion of the trial included a mock call with contacts from this fake client — my manager, and two of their colleagues. My trial ended with no offer, and no explanation of why I received no offer. This is a common HR tactic to avoid litigation. I get that — but I left with nothing gained from a four+ month process. I insisted on some kind of feedback, and only got that another candidate was “more strategic,” which tells me nothing. It was an incredibly discouraging conclusion. I could not recommend this place to work any less, and other Glassdoor reviews bear this out for sure.