I was contacted via their internal people acquisition team, and had an initial 30 minute call with them. This was standard, light-touch stuff, talking about motivation for job-hunting, previous experience, etc. Very rote and pro-forma.
The next round was an hour long call with an Engineering Lead. Very nice call, good mix of technical questions, discussion of current role, career goals and the structure of Checkout and some of its engineering teams.
I was then given details of a technical challenge to complete and submit within a week. This task was just emailed across by the recruiter, essentially setting off a one-week timer, without any attempt to find out whether that was convenient for me. It wasn't, but I rearranged some things (birthday plans!) as best I could, to try allow enough time to complete and submit the task.
I'd heard nothing a week after submitting it, so contacted the recruiter, who said someone would be reviewing the submission that day, and that he would get back to me by the end of the following day, at the latest. Five days later I had still heard nothing, so sent another follow-up enquiry. This was not answered, and I've to date heard nothing further.
Since this took place, I've read some blogs which discuss how/why tech companies often choose not to follow-up with unsuccessful candidates. Suggested reasons ranged from it simply being a waste of their time, to it being a strategy to avoid any legal ramifications they may face by disclosing their hiring reasons/criteria. Who knows.
Personally, I feel there isn't really an excuse for not providing even a courtesy, "Sorry, we've decided not to continue with your application" acknowledgment, especially after asking applicants to submit a week's worth of work prepared with zero notice. It's rude, presumptuous and dismissive. It also precludes me from wanting to apply to this company in the future, when I may have been a better fit. Not only do I have no idea about the areas I should look to improve in, due to the lack of feedback, but I don't respect the way that the company treats applicants, and now have a negative opinion of them. This was doubly irritating as I'd specifically asked the Engineering Lead whether they gave feedback to all candidates, and he had said that they do.
It's a shame as the company sounds like it has a good work culture, great opportunities for career development, an interesting stack, etc etc. My negative opinion is largely of the recruitment team/process, as I found my experience talking with the Engineering Lead very positive.
