Horrible experience. After a typical phone screen with the hiring manager, I was brought to Columbus to interview with numerous employees. Right away, I was shocked at the less-than-casual dress code, as I was greeted by an HR employee wearing shorts and flip-flops, and one of my interviewers wore pajama pants. Neither the HR recruiter I dealt with before nor the hiring manager were present on the day of my on-site interview, which was the result of poor planning. I was also scheduled to speak with the CFO, and that was canceled.
After a 15-minute IQ test, I talked with the Chief Data Scientist who didn't know what position I was interviewing for. He then proceeded to quiz me on probability and predictive modeling questions. I am a credentialed actuary with more than a decade of experience, so I have already proven my ability to pass exams, but the questions I was asked were drawn from material I have not reviewed for many years and don't use ever in practical applications. As such, I struggled to answer some of the questions.
Another interviewer was only on his second day of employment at Root. He kept asking how I would reduce the number of variables in a data set, but didn't seem satisfied with any of my answers even though I have used all of those techniques in practice.
The remaining interviews went well, but no one could answer any of my own questions about the responsibilities of the role. Most of them were under the impression I was interviewing for a much more junior position than my experience dictated.
After two weeks of waiting to get feedback, I was told I did not get the job. The third-party recruiter was able to get more information, and was told that I "lacked the technical acumen" to both lead the actuarial team and perform the advanced modeling analytics. Although I have more leadership training, and more insurance experience than anyone else on their team, this decision was clearly based on my struggle to solve useless brain teasers.
This is an organization which values the ability to answer exam-type questions more than real-world experience. They are growing at an irresponsible pace and their environment is chaotic and unprofessional. The disorganization and lack of preparedness are especially aggravating given they had the nerve to say that I was underqualified.