I applied online. I interviewed at Uber (San Francisco, CA) in Jan 2017
Interview
I got an email from HR to have a first phone interview. That went really well, she was super nice, friendly and asked me the regular questions of a first phone screen.
A few days later, she coordinated a second phone call with an Executive Assistant. I left work earlier to be able to take the call, but the person never called me. After waiting for 30 minutes, I emailed the HR person to let her know that I never got to talk to this EA. She apologized and told me she forgot to send a calendar invite to the interviewer. After emailing back and forth, we finally scheduled a new day.
The second phone interview was really frustrating. The EA who interviewed me, was really cold and condescending. She asked me if I had experience working at start-ups or big companies (which I don't, and that's very clear on my resume). When I told her that I did not, she basically listed all the reasons I wasn't qualified for the role. I made it clear that I'm looking for a new challenge and that I did have experience as an EA in a fast-paced company in my past. But that did not seem enough for her. I ended the phone call feeling frustrated, belittled and sad. Then, that got me thinking, if they are like this during an interview, how would it be to actually work there? I don't think they are all like that, of course. But she sounded like a really toxic person to work with, and it just didn't feel right.
I sent her a "thank you" email later, making it clear that I believe a company that's able to see potential in someone, beyond of what a resume says, is what makes it great and successful. I guess she must not have liked that, because the day after, I got an email for HR saying they were going to go in a different direction. I honestly thought "good, go as far from me as possible!".
I truly believed it was a better company, but I was so wrong. If an EA feels entitled to treat an interviewee the way she did, then the company already failed.