I had a half-hour phone interview with the Director of Recruiting, which went well. Very engaging. After about a week, she set up another interview at the office with two of my would-be coworkers. They were very nice. One was a CD, and one was a GCD - so no one in a supervisory role. Great conversation, but it was very vague. When I asked about the role and what accounts I would work on, the answer was "we don't know yet. We hire, and then put people in the right place." So I didn't really know much about the position I was applying for. At my level, it's not a good sign. I also asked about what kind of projects they are currently working on, and I didn't really get an answer. When I noted that the work on their site was old, they said it was "intentionally vague," which seems odd, but ok. At least answer the questions when asked in an interview.
A few days later, I was asked to come in for a second interview with the Subject of "Vayner ONE MORE TIME!" I thought this would be a supervisor interview (the ECD or Gary, the CEO), and the last interview. Nope. I met with the Creative Recruiter (why in the 3rd round?) and another CD. Again, very nice people. I am happy that the proper cultural fit is important, but I'm still not understanding why I am not learning more about specifics regarding the role. I did learn that the ECD was overloaded with the management of 200ish creatives (mostly young), and only had the support of one GCD to manage the teams. Shocking. I can't imagine the pressure she must be feeling. They mentioned that they are hiring multiple GCDs (good!). I thought it went well, but I still didn't fully understand the role. I can manage creative teams and multinational client relationships, but I wanted to know about the day-to-day problems to solve.
After that interview, I reached out to the original Director of Recruiting that I spoke with initially. No response. After a week, I reached out again to ask about next steps. No response. A week later, a last request for feedback. No response. I gave up.
After three interviews with five employees, none of them in a supervisory role, I felt that I should at least get a quick reply. Crickets. At this point, I'm angry and don't want the position. They are doing this so wrong...I just see chaos. More than three weeks after the last interview, I get an email stating that the team felt I didn't have enough social media expertise for the position. Yep, figured that out after the second ignored email. Got it. I'm not angry about the outcome (life, right?). I'm disenfranchised by the disorganized process. They need to acknowledge a few things: 1. People who are to be put in managerial positions should absolutely know everything about the position. If you are asking me to manage creative teams, I need to know exactly what you're doing, why you're doing it, and where the pain points are. It's my job to problem solve, but I can't solve problems (or offer up ways I would solve them) if I don't know what they are. 2. High-level candidates should meet with superiors. My peers couldn't have been nicer (really), but there is no way I can really understand the big picture (and offer up ideas) if I'm not talking to an agency leader who will let me know about the specific expectations of my position. 3. I get it, you're busy. You're hiring a million people and you're only one person. I'm busy too, and I'm fully invested in this agency and position. It means something to me. Don't demonstrate to me that my invested time means nothing to you. Send a quick note and be more transparent. It's the very least you can do. Or...hire more of you so this doesn't happen.
I decided to write Gary directly about my experience, and I let him know that I would be writing this review. Most importantly, I let him know that I left the interviewing process with VaynerMedia with a drive to compete with him rather than work with/for him (or want to). He responded back within hours (great). He said that he would be looking into it, and was very upset that the experience had left me with such a bad taste in my mouth that I felt the need to write a review like this. I responded that I know it's not him personally. I've only heard/read great things about him, but I know he takes things like this seriously. I let him know that I would continue to cheer for him, but will now be a friendly competitive rival. Will be fun. Who knows what the future will bring? I'm happy for him that he's building this empire. I know there will be bumps in the road (read: here), but I hope it works out for him. In the meantime, I don't know what to say about this interview process. It's terribly flawed. The drive to find the right people culturally is the right one (and an important one). However, this is not the right way to hire team leaders. All ego aside, we are people too - and deserve basic respect, no matter the position. Best of luck to you and your team, Gary. See you on the other side.