I was referred for a position at Zillow, listed as "Full Stack Developer Maps & Search," by a current employee. I applied via the website and, several days later, received an auto-generated email stating they were moving forward with another candidate. I reached out to my contact to thank them for their time, and they mentioned that this was not what the recruiter had said.

Sure enough, two days later, I received an email from a recruiter indicating that he had accidentally declined my application instead of setting up a time to speak. I replied, and we scheduled a call.

During the call with the recruiter, I asked more about the position and learned about the full-stack aspect. I responded by highlighting my experience across the entire stack, from HTML/CSS through the middle tier to database design/management and DevOps.

The call seemed to go quite well, and he indicated that he would get back to me the following day.

Two days later, I received another email stating they were moving forward with another candidate. In order for me to learn from the process, I asked what I could have done better. He mentioned two things:

1. I do not have a CS degree, despite my five years of professional experience and multiple shipped products.
2. He stated, "he mentioned is that he just wanted deeper experience with technologies. He saw you more as a 'jack of all trades'."

There appears to be a huge gap between the hiring managers and the recruiting team. When a posting asks for full-stack experience, candidates should be able to speak to that experience. If a position requires more specific expertise, that should be conveyed to the candidate so they can best present themselves.

Overall, the entire process indicated a disjointed recruiting team and a lack of clarity regarding their requirements.

They asked for professional experiences.