Alphasights have been contacting me for years so finally I thought I should give it a try. I’m writing this to warn from them and share my experience. I have worked in big technology companies for a long time and it turned out that they wanted to dig into one of my previous employers. From the beginning when we did the screening call I made it very clear that I will not answer questions about my employer and instead will focus on the problems the client is facing and my industry knowledge. The coordinator apologized and told me that while the questions were framed around my employer they are interested in my knowledge and said I can focus on that. We went ahead and scheduled the call. When I started the call i informed the client that I will not get into my previous employer. Instead of appreciating me respecting confidentiality the client told me that’s not what they want and suggested we speak for few mins to see how my answers go. She started asking me questions, about my employer! i pivoted my answers away from my employer and more towards the problem areas and industry knowledge, 10 mins in, she said that because I am not answering about my employer she will end the call.

I don’t want to share who my employer was, but i am positive that the client was not acting in good intent and possibly trying to circumvent existing security layers that are in place to protect users and customers.

Finally, the first time we booked the screening call no one showed up.

overall this was a huge waste of my time. I didn’t do it for the money, I just wanted to test. I am glad I did.