First let me say I know many people that have worked at Costar and they all had negative things to report. I applied because they start you off at 50K. I figured I can stand on my head for about 6months to a year for 50K, then leave them. So I knew the job is not a happy one,, I've done my research.
Now onto the interview process, Lame, unprofessional, and pretty transparent.
First was called by a recruiter after applying through the website. Recruiter said it would be about 30days before I'd hear anything, recruiter made that very clear. So I moved on. Then about 30days later,, another different recruiter contacted back, said they would like to line up interviews So we did a typical 20-30minutes phone screen. Since recruiter # 1 already pre-screened me, recruiter # 2 just pretty much wanted to confirm my availability. So then it was all about when can you meet with us. They were now in a rush and only wanted to interview between certain 4hour blocks of time on a specific day. I explained I couldn't take an interview during that time frame because of my existing job. Recruiter # 2 said she would reach out to hiring managers and see if they could accommodate meeting me on my regular day off which is a Monday. A week,,, just crickets, called recruiter, said was checking.... Then around the 2wk mark called to inform me I was not being considered further, they hired someone who was able to meet with them during "their interview time slots" .. so I moved on again... - A month later I get an email thanking me for interviewing - which I never actually did.
I then reach out to recruiter # 2 via email,, which consequently got ignored, send a follow up email,,, ignored again, Third email combined with a voice mail was the charm. Spoke to recruiter who was practically reading from a script, gave alot of conflicting bogus fluff and prescribed answers.
All in all,,, they are not professional, I reiterate ; I knew alot about how miserable folks that work there are, but I thought the lame management would reveal itself after hire, NOT in the process of onboarding and / or dealing with a potential candidate. - All in all I feel I dodged a bullet... and case in point is all the negative reviews here by current and former Research Associates. --- It's a serious flag when a prospective employer will NOT work with an applicant with any degree of flexibility when it comes to scheduling an interview. Folks changing jobs can't just interview at the drop of a hat or at the whim of the hiring manager. It's a delicate process to be treated with some respect,, CoStar quite obviously doesn't care about this, they're just hiring bodies to fill chairs.