| June 24, 2015
Cheat Sheet is a series that lifts the curtain on a competitive hiring process. Hiring managers share insight on how they choose, or eliminate, candidates. When it comes to Refinery29, don't be afraid to be wrong. Be yourself, and leave the suit at home.
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First Round:
A 30-45 minute phone interview to understand the candidate’s background and possibly, talk through case studies.
Second Round:
Candidates are asked to analyze data sets to see “what insights bubble up.”
Third Round:
In-person meetings with members of different teams. This could include someone from the executive team.
The Score:
Hiring team talks through the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses and assigns them a “Recommend” or “Does not recommend” label. A Does-not-recommend isn’t always bad. Some weaknesses might not matter for this particular role.
Do use your intuition. It’s all right if you don’t know an answer. “We don’t expect people to know everything. We are looking for someone who can learn and someone who can learn the business quickly.”
Do get to know Refinery29 as a media company. “There have been people who don’t seem to have checked out the site recently.”
Do ask questions, and speak up when things don’t make sense. “They’re basically going to be detectives and figure out what’s working,” Lee said. “It is an indicator of how they think.”
Don't feel pressure to dress like someone else. “We value individual personal sense of style. Express your own sense of style.”
Don't panic if you can't immediately spout calculations when handed a data set. Giving a broad interpretation instead “gives us a sense of if this person can synthesize insights from the data."
