The process took 1 week. I interviewed at ByteDance (Mountain View, CA)
Interview
Recruiter scheduled my interview in EST hours instead of PST (even though I’d specified I was on the west coast), then they called me an hour early. Despite scheduling issues, the screening was fine and recruiter was pleasant.
Follow up interview was with the hiring manager, who was very cagey and defensive and gave curt responses/couldn’t answer some of my questions. I asked what changes they’d implemented based on employee feedback, and she couldn’t think of any. Big red flags.
She also said I wouldn’t be working on things specified in the JD. I spotted several typos in their app and suggested I could help QA app copy, but she didn’t seem to care and said that wasn’t what I’d be working on (even though product copy was specifically mentioned in the JD).
Applied online and HR reached out a few weeks later. Had an introductory phone interview with the recruiter, who was fantastic and great to speak with. However, the next day, I was sent a writing test with a deadline of 1 business day (sent mid morning and due next day EOD). Typically, businesses give more than one business day to complete and give you advance notice. Had I known to expect a writing test (which take time, effort, and research), I would have shuffled my time around to make it work. The recruiting coordinator followed up at 6:10pm to ask where my test was (news alert- I was finishing the 3-4 page document because I had been working both business days and had a business event the night prior). I submitted the test shortly afterward and received a rejection email the next day. The job listing was still up a month later.
