I recently interviewed with a Talent Acquisition leader and was expecting a high-quality experience, especially given Capital One’s strong reputation for candidate engagement. Unfortunately, the interview did not reflect the standard I associate with the organization. The interviewer did not ask probing questions to fully understand my background, skills, or leadership experience, and at times appeared distracted, including looking at her phone during our conversation. I want to emphasize that I do not believe this reflects Capital One’s broader culture, but rather an opportunity for additional coaching and support to ensure leaders conducting interviews are creating a positive, engaging experience for all candidates—regardless of the ultimate hiring outcome. I was also referred by a member of the Talent Acquisition team, which heightened my expectation of a thoughtful and well-executed interview process.

The main reason for my review is because of the phone screen with the recruiter. I left the conversation not even wanting to work there because of the monotone, check the box type interview which did nothing to excite a candidate about wanting to proceed with the process. As someone in Talent Acquisition, it made me wonder how often Capital One experiences passive talent dropping out of the process after the first phone screen because of the recruiter's initial phone screen. You only get one chance at a first impression, and they need a leader in TA that makes that a priority for their recruiters.