I applied for the role of E-commerce apprentice at Benefit and received an email back asking me to complete an online video interview assessment. I was sent this email on Friday, mid work day. The date I had to complete it by was The following Wednesday. As I was working Friday, and had a very busy pre-planned weekend ahead, I decided to prep for this on Friday evening and at any chance I would get throughout the weekend, I then would film it on the following Monday.
After submitting my video interview, the next day I received an email first thing on Tuesday explaining to me that the role had already been filled. Bear in mind, the closing date to submit the interview was the following day.
This was extremely frustrating to me as it seemed that I was a last thought that didn't have a chance in the first place. I obviously applied close the the planned closing date, but if they already had the selected few to send to the next stage, why bother making me spend all that time doing the online video interview. This felt very unprofessional to me.
They say that the video interview takes no more than 15 minutes, however there were 8 questions in total, each with 2 minutes for you to answer, then with a 30 second time slot to read each question. So overall this process takes over 20 minutes. This is not even including the prep as they do advise you to prepare for the interview.
Overall I feel as though Benefit has completely wasted my time with an opportunity that was filled in the first place. It was highly unlikely that I would be able to film the video interview on the day they sent me the offer, they gave me little to no time to actually record it, then when I manage to juggle my job, other interviews, and my own personal life, they send me the email saying its been filled before the closing date to even record the interview!
My advice would be, don't get your hopes up about getting an interview at this company. And deadlines and closing dates don't mean a great deal.