I was contacted by a recruiter via LinkedIn, who prepped me over the phone for the interview. She emphasized knowing the JD and that the HM had issue with candidates who "seemed like they didn't read the JD". We reviewed the JD together, and I thought I had a good understanding of how to frame my experiences (re: compliance, reporting, case management, employee relations). The video interview with the HM was around 30 minutes. When discussing the JD, the HM dove into my experience in benefits/compensation analysis, payroll, etc., which were clearly not listed in the initial posting and threw me for a loop. While I appreciate that their team was prompt with their rejections, needless to say, I think there was a discrepancy in communication between what the HM and recruiter.

In a single day, I interviewed with a total of seven people. Two people at a time and then one person at the very end. In total, I was at Tesla for four hours. It's great that they include potential coworkers as part of the interview process, but from my experience as a hiring manager, although group cohesion is very important, it is also vital to hire people that are well qualified and can get the work done. What shocked me most was that a couple of the individuals that were interviewing me seemed like they should never have been hired in the first place. As a supervisor, their competency level seemed a bit questionable. (This is not to put down Tesla Motors or the caliber of its employees, but this is solely based on my experience. I'm not upset that I didn't get the job, in fact, it worked out best that I didn't as I ended up branching out on my own doing consulting work.)