I was invited to the initial screeninh with the recruiter. I prepared for a video call, but it ended up being a recorded phone call. That iritated me and threw me off, as I was talkong to a black screen. I could not see facial expressions nor did I know if the recruiter was actually paying attention to what I was saying. It felt very unpersonal and also unprofessional (the recruiter was reading her part - all of it - from a script). It was a very poor initial screening, and I'm not sure I would have wanted to move forward.

The main reason why I leave this review is because I originally went through interviews for this role 8 months ago, and the position has been continued to be advertised since, and is still being advertised. Make of that what you will, but in the current market and specifically for training positions (a field that is overrun with an abundance of candidates), either the expectations on the company's side are ridiculously high, or the role being advertised is never intended to be filled. Do keep this in mind when going for roles here, as I wouldn't rule out a similar practice for other roles. That being said, the interviews themselves were relatively standard, although pretty bloated, with a total of 8 rounds, including an extensive case study. The overall process took 2.5 months, during which I met the hiring manager once towards the end of the process. Everybody I interacted with was friendly and the recruiter was relatively responsive, although their reference check was pretty intrusive, and required a relatively large time commitment from the three references I was asked to provide. I understand that startups in particular are more extensive in their hiring process recently, but this one remains on the longer side of processes I've been part of.