Being on the waiting list for the release of their UK product, I was very excited when I got contacted by a recruiting agency. I went trough it despite of being under my salary expectations as it was pitched as a great opportunity. The interview process lasted about two months in total. The recruiter explained it was a total of 3 different interviews on the phone in the late evenings, as the team is based in San Francisco (8 hours behind London). I interviewed with a quantitative researcher first, then the UK CEO and the last interview was with the whole team, to do a in-depth portfolio presentation of two projects. All the interviews were very conversational, not difficult (I have 5 years experience in the field) and everyone was really nice and approachable. Their HR team also would call before each interview to brief me in. Once I finished all the interviews, they contacted me for the next step. The recruiter assured me that no one got to that point, the role was almost mine, and they just wanted a further chat. I also wanted to see the physical office where I would be placed in London, so it was fine. Then the recruiter informed me there was another 2 interviews, I thought it was a bit strange as they said that the portfolio presentation was my final stage. My surprise came when their Robinhood HR rep, explained that it was 5 instead of 2, with a further exercise. Those 5 were, themed interviews, with a PM, a Marketeer, 2 other researchers, a research critique exercise and a chat with the team manager. I went through all that despite already having a feeling that they were really complicated. Not even in any of the FAANG cos, you have to go through that long winded... red flags everywhere!!! Clearly the recruiter didn’t have a clue or didn’t care, first he gave me the wrong information, then didn’t answer back to my emails, nor to my calls and lied to me about leaving messages on my a.m. Eventually when I got hold of him, their answer was I was very good at everything but , I didn’t have enough innovation projects. I was so frustrated, as I run innovation projects on a monthly basis for different companies and this just didn’t make sense, and when I talked about innovation methods such as ‘Crazy 8’s’ - ‘a core Design Sprint Method’ - I had to explain this as it was a method not known to them. The interviews were themed (e.g. collaboration, communication, research critique... nothing about innovation) with little room to talk about something else or ask them many questions. After 8 interviews, recruitment handled extremely badly I am left with a “I didn’t have enough innovation projects” and “they have been very difficult and no one has got the job after several months of recruiting”... The process has been a waste of effort and evenings, however, I have realised that it was for the best, I probably didn’t want to end up working nights dealing with complicated stakeholders on the US west coast and working in a small co-sharing office, even if it is based in the city. I don’t normally share this kind of experience on social media but their lack of feedback after 8 interviews and how they have handled me, deserves to be shared to avoid disappointment to any fellow UX Researchers. They should do an empathy map to reflect all the negative emotions a future employee goes through their interview process and innovate a new one. I have learnt to follow my instincts and know where I don’t want to be. Thanks!!