I interviewed for a leadership recruiter role at Netflix. The process took several weeks. It consisted of a hiring manager phone interview, a virtual onsite including a series of 1:1's with a presentation, and a final interview with a director from the business group for which I might recruit.
Netflix said they have a strong culture of feedback. I was given feedback that I aced all but one of my interviews and that my presentation was the best they had ever seen. The one interview they told me I failed, was the interview with the Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity (DEI) team. The interviewer's feedback was that I did not use Netflix jargon. It was explained to me that the word "diversity" in and of itself is not a word that Netflix uses internally. They use the word "additive" to describe diversity. Because I did not use their internal words for how they describe diversity, to them, that meant I was not knowledgeable about diversity.
For full context, I have run my own women in tech organization since 2015 which focuses 100% on diversity and equality. I am an ally. I am a coach. I am a mentor. I am a leadership recruiter. This is not lip service. It is something I am passionate about. Maybe the Netflix "additive team" is itself not inclusive. I experienced the very discrimination that Netflix claims they are trying to remedy with the additive team.
And so, I am left believing I was discriminated against because I am white. It really boils down to that. If I aced all the other interviews, including the presentation, I simply wasn't "woke" enough for the DEI interviewer.
When the director of recruiting called to inform me they were passing on my candidacy, she did ask me to reach out in July as she said she wanted to hire me the moment she had another spot open. I reached back out to her in July as promised, and I was blown off. I suspected this was a ruse to keep me engaged so I would not write this review. Sadly, it seems that I was right.
I was a lover of Netflix before I met them. The interview process and lack of integrity made me not want to work there. The feedback from the diversity and inclusion interviewer was deeply insulting.