I applied via email after receiving the job announcement through a university mailing list. Although I have listed this as an employee referral, it was not quite a referral as the employee to whom I forwarded my resume does not know me in person. However, I think it brought me to their attention.

A recruiter contacted me after a couple of weeks and scheduled a phone interview for the following day. After the interview with the recruiter, I was scheduled for another phone interview, this time with the hiring manager, for the next day. It happened to be a very high-level interview, with no technical details. In the end, the hiring manager told me that the recruiter would remain our contact point. After a few days, the recruiter notified me via email that they had decided to continue with other applicants.

To be honest, I am self-taught in data science and it is not my first priority in finding a job, so I was just giving it a shot. I think my main mistake that prevented the process from going further was that I did not express enough interest directly in their subject. I was just a little too honest.

Had it gone further, I would have had to go through 3-4 phone screenings before getting to the on-site interview. I realized that they already had one candidate for the on-site interview and were trying to find at least a couple more.

What is your ideal position?