It began with a recruiter reaching out to me on LinkedIn. After some research, I liked where the company looked like it was going and it was a great mission to assist in the mental health space. The first interview was a quick 30-minute overview of the role and a bit of my background. Mainly softball questions with the recruiter. She was very knowledgeable of the job description and wanted to move me along in the process. The second part of the process was to complete an assessment that they say all potential employees take. It consists of identifying shapes and patterns. They gave you a long time to complete, but as expected, had absolutely nothing to do with your ability to perform a job with the company. The third part of the process was a zoom interview with the VP. After some thorough research of the person, I had my concerns of how I may be a fit. She was nice but it was clear after a few minutes that I was indeed not what she was looking for. As a startup, there are a lot of changes decisions on who to hire for your team. It was evident after looking in to who was being hired for these Director roles, that the focus was to be on building a team of women in leadership. As a male, I am all for that and encourage that. My only disappointment would be in reaching out to candidates that do not fit the "look" that Charlie Health is obviously going for. Either they are deliberately wasting candidates time that don't fit their mold, or the recruiters they are paying to recruit on their behalf are unaware of who they are looking for. Honestly, not sure which is worse. My advice would be to be honest with yourself on who you have hired and continue to hire. Don't waste people's time with long assessments and your process if they do have any chance of being hired.