First I was sent a data-set with some questions that required analysis of the data. I passed this initial take home test, then scheduled a phone interview with the recruiter. The phone interview was quite straightforward, a 30 min talk about why I was a good fit, what I knew about the company, my background and some other "what would you do if you encountered such a case" kind of questions. In the meantime, I informed the recruiter that I would need a visa sponsorship if I wanted to change employers, and the recruiter confirmed to check on it. One week later I got an email confirming that I passed the second step as well moving on to an onsite interview, confirming there would be no problem for the visa issue, and I was sent time slots to choose my availability for the next week (this was sent on a Friday). I selected the first 3 days of the week as I would be on the road on Thursday and Friday, and sent an email about this particular constraint to the recruiter, asking for a reply as soon as possible.
Yet, I didn't hear anything back from the recruiter until Tuesday 6.00 pm, which was just to say they were not available that week and need to reschedule. I explained my situation (which was kind of complex due to visa requirement for the country) asked when would be an available time for them so I could plan accordingly. One week later, no email, nothing, just them playing dead. I wrote a follow-up email asking for the availability of the manager and the recruiter for the onsite interview, just to hear a very disregardful answer, "Unfortunately we are not in a position to sponsor you for a Visa. I want to wish you the best of luck on your job hunt.".
I believe wasting candidates' time like this and feeling that they have the right to be this unprofessional and discriminative is something that recruiters do A LOT these days. All candidates invest time, effort and even money in the interviewing processes and our time is just as valuable as the recruiters', which is sadly taken for granted.
The overall recruiting process of Deliveroo was very unprofessional, discriminative and disappointing in my experience. Be prepared not to hear anything from them until the VERY last minute, expect to hear that you did not make it to the next stage even if you already got a confirmation.
