I applied on LinkedIn, and the recruiter set up a call with me. The whole process took two months, with lots of ghosting in between.

For the first call, the classic questions were asked, and I was told I was being passed to the next round.

The recruiter was ten minutes late for our call, and I remember thinking, "Okay, not a big deal." This lack of communication and tactics continued through the entire interview process that lasted nearly two months.

The interviewer then completely ghosted me for two weeks.

I sent an email every few days trying to set up the interview with the engineering team. After almost giving up, I received an invite to an interview with one engineer. The interview went fairly well; it was just discussing design and experience. I had five years more experience than the engineer I met with, but the interview still seemed to go just fine. The engineer seemed like a nice guy, and I thought we'd get along well.

After this, I tried following up with the Sr. Recruiter but didn't hear back for another two weeks.

Again, after following up with them every few days, I was told that the company was putting the position "on hold" for two weeks.

Once the two weeks were over, I again followed up with the recruiter and was completely ignored.

I called every few days and also sent a couple of emails a week. I was just looking for some form of communication at this point.

The recruiter was completely absent during this entire process.

I received a phone call from the recruiter and was informed that the position was no longer being filled.

After two months of horrible communication, this was the end result. I couldn't have done a better job in either the communication or the interviews. I have a suspicion that the job posting was there just to see who was in the field, and that Rivian wasn't at any point seriously considering hiring for the role.

Note to Rivian recruiting: Learn to communicate. If you are not interested in a candidate, let them know. I 'almost' turned down another company for the opportunity to meet here; I am grateful the other company was able to act faster than Rivian.

The Rivian compensation package was lower than others, but I wanted to work for an underdog in the EV space. A few articles came out recently about how bad the "bro culture" is at Rivian, and also a number of lawsuits from former employees. In hindsight, I'm grateful that I dodged a bullet here and that the recruiter didn't know how to respond to emails.

If Rivian is as good at making cars as they are at trying to onboard new talent, this company won't be around for too long.

I am currently finalizing an offer with a major EV competitor, who's paying $70,000 more with better stock and bonus terms.

The Rivian recruiter was fairly arrogant about the company and the role. Rivian won't always be the new/cool kid on the block.

Good luck, Rivian. You're going to need it.

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