Lack of transparency- I started an interview process for a marketing role. The process itself is the long winded interview process tech companies do- TA interview, followed by a case study, followed by another few rounds of interviews. I dropped out as the company does not offer consistent benefits across markets and are completely not transparent.
They sent me over the case study which involves looking at mock data, answering some questions on profitability etc and then putting together a strategy for their back to school campaign (questionable free work here?). I had asked on the benefits package and was told that they cannot share anything until the first day of the job, there are restrictions on this. I asked do they offer maternity leave or paternity leave as most companies do but was told;
1- the detail of the employee handbook is only available once you start with HelloFresh I am unable to give it to you right now
2- right now we are not able to share further detail on what number within the leaves (other than the annual leave) from our side due to the restriction constraint.
Basically they do not offer this benefit but are afraid to state it as it looks bad.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What do you think hellofresh barriers are within the market?
Do you have experience with price promotions? How do you come up with prices and determine profitability?
The interview process was like most interview processes for this type of role, three rounds of interviews, but with a case study where you weren't given a lot of time to complete, in addition you need to prove your excel skills, even though you don't actually need this to perform well in the role.
I have also never experienced so little enthusiasm in all interview stages when interviewing for a company, which made me wonder if the employees are actually happy in this company.
The communication from the contact person I had was also often times rude and not personal (templates are of course good to use for efficiency, but it only takes a couple of seconds to make just a tiny bit personal).
I will give them creds for actually calling when rejecting after final rounds and giving proper and useful feedback, which is a rarity these days.
Overall, candidate experience can be improved.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They asked a lot about data driven recruitment, which I think also reflects well on how TA teams there work, which is a good thing.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at HelloFresh (Berlín) in Aug 2023
Interview
Well-structured, relatively quick process with continuous follow-up from recruiters. Consisted of a screening interview, a test case and its presentation, and a hiring manager interview. Comfortable, respectful process overall. While my profile seemed to be a fit for the job description, in the end the company preferred another candidate who had a skill that was not clearly mentioned in the process - or at least that is the reasoning they gave me. I went all the way to the last round and was one of 2 people they were choosing from. The recruiter even offered a feedback call after I got the news I was not chosen - that really was really nice of them and I took the call!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Can you prototype well in Figma?
Why do you want to stop freelancing?