4 interviews. Phone screen, interview with team and design challenge. No offer at the end but they kept me in the loop the entire time. The design challenge was easy but I think its a bit of an outdated practice.

I experienced a 3 month interview for a job I was overqualified for. I listened to Ramsey podcasts every day and read their books. I did an excellent job at the homework provided to design for an event. But in the end, after taking 2 vacation days from my current job and flying out to have in-person interviews in a COVID hotspot of a building, I was not offered the position because “I didn’t demonstrate enough knowledge about the products and way of life”. To be honest, I don’t think that’s the reason. I think they knew I was smart and wouldn’t accept manipulation from leadership. I consider myself a pretty dedicated Christian. I dedicate myself to abstaining from sex before marriage, so the fact that they mentioned that was a fireable offense didn’t bother me. But I couldn’t help but feel a darkness and uneasiness in being in that building. Everyone was so nice to me, but overly nice. Like it was a performance or their job depended on it. It felt like I was in a megachurch that was filled with good people desperately trying to be good, but who had no knowledge of Jesus. They only wanted to talk about DISC and if I was willing to kiss the ground Dave walked on. Not even my qualifications. They use religion as a weapon. I truly believe they seek out weak minds who won’t ask the hard questions about culture and who won’t stand-up for what is right and professionally combat what is wrong. I thank God EVERY DAY that I did not get an offer, because the night before I prayed “God I’m going to take this job unless you close the door. Protect me if I am wrong”. And He did. I feel really sorry for the people who landed a job here. While the pay is great for a designer, I can’t help but think about how much they hurt their current employees. So many people quit when they refused to take COVID seriously. When they had an overqualified candidate who checked 99/100 of their boxes, they didn’t hire me. They would rather fill a seat of someone who believes Ramsey is Christ Jesus himself, than someone who could really add value to a growing company. They would rather overwork one current employee doing 4 people’s jobs while taking 3 months to interview 1 person only to not give them the offer. I feel so so bad for the people who work here. I even think deep down some of the leadership are really good people, but they’ve been brainwashed and living in fear for so long they’ve just conformed to toxicity. My advice to those of you interviewing: - Run. It will harm your faith. You will be gaslit. - Everything on the internet about them is true, please at least read it before continuing the interview process. - In your interviews, they will be extremely open about how much the media hates them. Don’t take this as them having nothing to hide, but take it as them desperately trying to distort the true narrative. - If you are fine with everything written above, make sure you don’t think COVID is serious, have sex, drink too much, want to talk to anyone about your challenges at work (including your spouse) and make sure you are ok with living with a constant fear that if you complain or use a credit card someone you work with will report you and have you fired. My advice to those trying to hire: - The candidates you are looking for do not exist. Consider outsourcing the projects you are able to so that you don’t crush the souls of the few people who remain. - Be better at communicating expectations and be less vague. Give clear examples of “we expect you to read x amount of books and been living by his budget x amount of months before we can consider hiring someone” Jesus would be flipping tables. Be ashamed of yourselves.