3 rounds of an interview. First was a phone conversation with UX lead asking to introduce myself. Very general. Second time we met in the office for behavioral questions and whiteboard challenge. The last one was with the Head of Product for culture fit.

The interview process went fast and was an overall enjoyable chat. I was asked about my design process in my current role to which I honestly stated the research step had gaps due to there being no funding for user interviews or any research resources for that matter (out of my control). The lack of funding/resources being placed in the research phase of the product development stage is unfortunate, but nothing new from my experience in this industry. This seemed to take the interviewer aback as they asked if I were completely adverse to unpaid research/focus groups with users. I responded in confidence that I believed in both incentivised and voluntary user interviews/surveys depending on how much time/effort would be required of participants. I think this was a reasonable response. I was given feedback post-interview from the recruiter that this area of our conversation was seen by the interviewer as "a negative reflection on my current employer". Whilst I appreciated the feedback, I believe it was wildly exaggerated and more of a reflection of Sentral's own practices of not investing the appropriate funding into the research process. Nothing about Sentral came across as appealing to me. I asked about the culture at a team and company level, and I received a very desperate and drab response - nothing stood out at all. There is no room for flexibility in the role at all. Recommendation to the Product Lead: Instead of holding a candidate to critique for honesty and commitment to best practice in the research phase, consider reflecting on how you can better support your Product Designers in the research phase, and incentivise target users spending their time adding to the value and profitability of the Sentral product suite.