I applied online. I interviewed at Semrush in Dec 2023
Interview
They wasted my time by interviewing me while already being in final rounds with several candidates. It felt massively disrespectful, and it wasted all the time I spent in their process because I never had a chance.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What did you find interesting about the job posting?
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Semrush in Jan 2024
Interview
I went through 5 interviews which took over a month before I got rejected because I didn't "specifically meet the requirements."
Round 1: Initial Phone Call
This was a phone call with their recruiter based in Serbia. She knew nothing about the specifics of the job and told me to save my questions for the manager. Talked about the company a little.
Round 2: HR & Hiring Manager
HR asked a couple of questions of my background and shared a little more on the company's background and culture. Hiring Manager asked about my experience at my previous roles and asked a couple general finance interview questions.
Round 3: Case Study Project
I was given 3 days to complete an acquisition and research project. The instructions were short and vague, so I had to determine what to include in my project. When I submitted the project, I did not hear back until 2.5 weeks later. Incredibly frustrating when I spend 3 days on a project and hear nothing back even after I sent 3 follow up emails.
Round 4: Case Study Presentation with President and Hiring Manager
I was told by the recruiter I would have to present my project for 45 minutes and have a 45 minute chat with the President afterwards. The interview was not like that at all. I wore a suit and tie for the presentation and the President asked me if someone was playing a joke on me. Very rude and unprofessional. The meeting started with sharing our background and small talk. As I started my presentation, they kept telling me to stop presenting have a relaxed conversation with them about it. The president kept asking question completing unrelated to the role, such as asking me how the technologies and code works for the software companies I researched. I was asked how the data is extracted and what code is used to extract data and transform it. Essentially questions that someone with a finance background wouldn't know how to answer. At the end, I was told my presentation was one of the best they've seen, but it wasn't as in-depth as they would've liked. Keep in mind I had 3 days to research 3 software companies and find 8 potential acquisitions related to those software companies. This was supposed to be the last stage and they told me they would speak to HR about next steps.
Round 5: Additional Meeting with President
I was contacted by the recruiter who told me the President wanted to have an additional meeting with me. I asked what the interview was about and how I should prepare and she told me I did not have to prepare anything. I thought this was good news and I was finally getting hired. I was wrong. The interview started with the president telling me he didn't think the job would be easy for me and wanted to ask me questions to see how I think about things and business. He asked vague questions like "What is a good business", "What makes a business good", "What makes a business a good investment?" and shot down every answer I gave him without providing the correct answer. At the end, he told me he would forward my answers to HR and the hiring manager. I received an email a few days later saying I didn't get the job.
Process took over a month. Horrible communication. Unprofessional Team. Weird Questions.
1
Semrush response
2y
Dear Sender,
Thank you for the review. We apologize that our interview process left you disappointed; that was not our intention. Your feedback is valuable, and we will certainly consider it for future improvements.
Yours, the Semrush Team
Semrush response
2y
Dear Sender,
Thank you for the feedback. We have checked the vacancy's pipeline and couldn't find similar cases. Could you please contact us at hr@semrush.com and provide more details? We would appreciate it. It's important for us because we are constantly improving the hiring process.
Yours, the Semrush Team