I applied online for a Customer Support Associate (offering Visa Sponsorship) for the Tallin office, Estonia.
First surprise, they contacted me two working days after my application. How was it possible as they pretend to have too many applications? They said the Hirevue interview had two sections: the first section consisting of 5 pre-recorded oral questions in English and the second section composed of 4 questions to be answered as e-mails (three customer questions and one question about why I wanted to join their company and the team I was interested in). I had 5 calendar days to complete the interview. They added that they were considering the interviews on a first come, first served basis. So, they pushed me to act quickly, exactly as the crooks do.
I hardly finished reading their e-mail that people came to my home to make a lot noise. They pretended to do repair works, but actually they have been informed by Wise employees that I had an interview that needed calm. So, they came to perturb it. I decided not to pursue the interview, but they extended the deadline unexpectedly. I believed in their good faith and paid another place, which seemed calm during my visit, to do the interview. Unfortunately, even there, through their local accomplices, they informed people who came to make noise, damaged my camera and microphone, probably through the Wi-Fi I shared with them (my neighbours). In less than 48 hours from the interview deadline, a technician fixed them. I did the interview without any serious preparation and with some technical concerns.
Five working days later, as expected, they emailed me to tell me how they had strong candidates with great responses and higher scores than mine. That was the end of the theatre piece that sought to denigrate, to ridicule me and to give reason to the hypocritical and camouflaged racism that I have constantly denounced both in recruiting and in everyday life.
As for the so-called "Visa Sponsorship", if you are in a developing country, outside of the European Union, note that Estonia has very few embassies that process visa applications. Wise know this. If by some miracle they sponsor your visa, you will first have to get the visa of a far away country (like USA, Canada, EU country in general) where the Estonian embassy processing visas is located. Despite these expenses and all this hassle, getting the Estonian work visa is not guaranteed. I discovered this out of curiosity after failing their so-called interview.
Dear prospective candidates, please, do not rely on speeches and appearances. Only your own experience tells you what the real values of the people behind a company are. Pay special attention to negative feedbacks, as it is better to have a pleasant surprise than the opposite. They talked about transparency (in their values) and high scores. How was the interview rated? What was the grading scale? Candidates should know this before any objective test? They may be right about my performance, since I was disrupted and it wasn't really my field of expertise. But, what was my grade? What mistakes did I make? I have the right to know because I found basic language errors on their website and even in the questions they asked me in both English and my working language.
I appreciate the originality of their mission and ideas. But, they can also be objective and original by removing the oral interview for people who do not work orally. What extraordinary things have I done in my life that I don't remember? You can't know a person unless you've been around him/her or worked with him/her. Behavioural interviews and reference letters are irrelevant and worthless. How many top officials have been jailed for corruption or other moral misconducts? They passed oral and behavioural interviews, had reference letters and many positive testimonials. Even thieves have people who appreciate them and who can write reference letters on their behalf. Such letters and interviews are ways to make favouritism and corruption official. Serious companies should rather test the technical skills of a position in an objective written test (followed by a feedback with unquestionable evidence); in the actual conditions in which the candidate will work. You can do a transparent criminal background check by informing the candidate of all the proven negative elements , if any, found about him/her so that he/she can defend himself/herself. Keeping it a secret, relying on so-called oral/behavioural interviews or vague statements without evidence, is opening the door to racists, haters, jealous and other prejudiced people. You are giving these people the opportunity to ruin the career and the life of this man and this woman. You were candidates; put yourself in the shoes of the candidates.
