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      Technical Writer Interview

      14 May 2018
      Anonymous interview candidate
      Burlingame, CA
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Difficult interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Acumen (Burlingame, CA) in Apr 2018

      Interview

      It was a very difficult and unfortunate interview process. I passed a phone screen and was offered an onsite interview in California. I flew across the country for the interview (they kindly reimbursed for some expenses). The onsite interview was very difficult and involved. There was a 90-minute handwritten test and then an additional 4-5 hours of interviewing. The individuals I interviewed with all had very unique and different expectations for the would-be technical writer. Most of which was not clearly articulated or explained. The majority of individuals were clear about how they would interact with the role, but predominately they lacked an emphasis on the actually writing component or requirements. Many individuals including the hiring manager stated that a technical writing background would be appreciated but not required. I recommend that you don't acknowledge this as factual, rather buff up on your technical writing knowledge and highlight your work samples. Which transitions me to the handwritten test. The was a difficult exam as it was relatively short, nuanced, and was to be completed in pencil. I recommend you practice your handwriting skills, certainly study your grammar and specific technical writing terms/practices. I was confused by what was said to me only to receive a rejection. I'd be wary of this organization and applying, everyone was nice and intelligent, but they made it seem like they really wanted to fill the role with any relatively skilled writer, especially given the need for support from a myriad of departments. Many of the 1-on-1 interviews were conversational but centered around very specific office dynamic questions. For example, "what would you do as a technical writer if someone agreed with a client to do additional work and it required extra effort from the development team but they couldn't deliver?" And more of those sort of questions. And be prepared to be talked at a lot by tech/computer science professionals and less from the actual hiring manager. Below are some of the test questions I can recall.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      The first question was to identify a grammatically correct sentence. Another was to write instructions for finding a "quality article online" Another was a rewriting of two convoluted paragraphs littered with industry-specific jargon and required an understanding of some kind of software development team management. Following the rewrite, there was a prompt to define what "original work" is. The other I cannot recall as well because truthfully the test was a blur as it felt like a trainwreck and I was caught off guard. I highly recommend you don't apply as there are many other technical writing/content creation positions in San Francisco with better pay and benefits, like GoPro, Youtube, or Facebook. This organization is interesting but the salary was low and the interview was very difficult and truthfully didn't seem geared around finding a good writer with other soft skills but more about passing the paper test and saying the right things to each interviewer that catered to there department needs/mindset. I would not recommend applying for a technical writing position here given the interviewing process and less than competitive compensation. I do want to state that they reimbursed up to 800 dollars for travel and took me to lunch. Everyone was nice and professional, but what was said and what happened afterward seems not to match up. Also if you apply and are rejected via email don't bother asking for feedback, you'll only receive a vague, generic and diplomatic response that is very cookie-cutter HR language to mitigate potential risks of candidate backlash.
      Answer question
      avatar
      Acumen response
      8y
      Thank you for taking the time to provide us with detailed feedback on our interview process. We are sorry to learn that your interview experience was not pleasant and will certainly factor your feedback on our writing exam, interview questions, and results communications into our application review process. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

      Other Technical Writer interview reviews for Acumen

      Technical Writer Interview

      1 Apr 2020
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Acumen

      Interview

      Acumen tries to cut corners by getting rid of the initial HR phone screen. The process for me was 1) fill out an abnormally long application, with multiple short answer questions; 2) submit writing samples; and 3) have a phone call with three members of the team. The phone call was wildly unpleasant. The interviewers were terse (one was openly hostile), asking a series of predetermined questions with little reaction to my answers. It was also clear they had not read my writing samples beforehand. Without the HR call, I felt completely unprepared, with a shaky understanding of the actual day-to-day of the job (the job description was typically vague) or the salary. I left the phone interview unsure if I even wanted to continue with next steps (an in-person interview/writing test). The feeling must have been mutual because I received a standard email rejection a few days later.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      What is the easiest thing about writing?
      Answer question
      avatar
      Acumen response
      6y
      Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about your recent interview experience. We’re sorry to learn that your experience wasn’t pleasant, and we’ll certainly factor your feedback into our ongoing efforts to improve our interview process.

      Technical Writer Interview

      10 Feb 2021
      Anonymous interview candidate
      Burlingame, CA
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Acumen (Burlingame, CA) in Mar 2020

      Interview

      They compensated me for my travel, which was generous and polite. I had to take an exam about grammar and research. Then I remained in one room all day while different department members spent 30 minutes each asking me the same exact typical interview questions all day, one at a time. It was exhausting and redundant. One interviewer even said out loud that he didn't understand why he was interviewing me, which was awkward. I think the weirdest part was that my interview and test with them was scheduled from 10am-3pm. Around I think 12:30 or 1pm, the HR rep told me I wasn't going to get a lunch break. She told me I could remain in the interview room by myself and either have a protein bar OR a bag of chips. I thought it was ridiculous. I would have liked to have been informed that I was responsible for my own lunch ahead of time so I could've pack a sandwich. I ended up walking to the cafe on the first floor and buying myself a proper lunch, but HR was bizarre about it. She told me several times to make sure I wasn't late for the next interview and then awkwardly told me that if I had been traveling from further away, an employee would've taken me out to lunch, but since I was close by, they wouldn't pay for my lunch. It was just....bizarre and borderline rude. No matter where you travel from to attend an interview with a company, lunch is lunch. Everyone deserves to eat more than a bag of chips for lunch. And I felt it was a bit dishonest and just unprofessional that the company didn't tell me ahead of time that I had to figure out my own lunch. I wanted the job, but after the interview I realized the company wasn't very organized and I didn't understand the logic behind the interview. The whole thing was a red flag.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Questions about semicolons Questions about the Oxford comma Create a sample guide about performing research Identify a grammatically incorrect sentence Write instructions for finding a "quality article online" in a technical writing format A rewrite of a couple confusing paragraphs with advanced verbiage about a technical process Define "original work"
      Answer question
      avatar
      Acumen response
      5y
      Thank you for sharing your feedback, we're sorry to hear you had a less than positive interview experience and for any confusion. We want to be respectful of candidates' and employees' time and make sure candidates have a 30-minute window during the interview to take a break. We strive to make sure candidate's have a clear expectation of the interview and go over their schedule in detail at the start of the interview.

      Technical Writer Interview

      26 Feb 2019
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Acumen in Feb 2019

      Interview

      I both disagree and agree with the content in the previous reviews. It was a somewhat lengthy process, but then again I live on the other side of the country. The steps I had included: phone interview, in-person interview, second-phone interview, and then they let me know their decision a few days after that. They reimbursed me to fly out, which I thought was pretty generous. The in person interview was indeed lengthy, I think about 5 hours, but it did not feel like that long because I interviewed with several different people. The writing portion of the test was on a laptop. It was timed, but I had more than enough time to address the questions in a manner that I was satisfied with. I wouldn't say that the test was excruciatingly difficult. Everyone was very nice, but I can see what the previous review meant by it seeming a bit disorganized. It felt like I was being interviewed independently by each person, rather than meeting with a series of people from one organization. It almost seemed that a couple of the people who interviewed me were more nervous than I was, or like they were unfamiliar with interviewing people. To be fair, though, each person was from a different department, so I think their day-to-day work might not typically involve interviewing people. They took me to lunch at a nice restaurant, which again, I thought was pretty generous. After a few weeks they called back for a short follow-up phone interview in which they asked me a few questions. A few days later, I was informed of their decision.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      They asked fairly typical questions I would say (i.e. goals, strengths, etc.)
      Answer question
      avatar
      Acumen response
      7y
      Thanks for leaving us a detailed review of your experience going through our interview process. We appreciate your feedback!

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