got laid off in February and GitLab was one of the first places i applied. recruiter screen happened faster than i expected, maybe 4 days after applying. here's what actually happened on that call.
it was 30 minutes. the recruiter was warm and pretty organized. she had clearly looked at my resume.
what she asked: 'walk me through your background briefly, focusing on the last 2-3 roles' -- standard, but she interrupted with specific questions about my work so she was actually listening 'why GitLab, and why now?' -- she lingered on the 'why now' more than i expected. i think she was probing for whether i was really interested or just spray-and-praying post-layoff (guilty, somewhat, but i genuinely use GitLab so that helped) 'what does your current search look like? where else are you?' -- i answered honestly: a few other remote-first companies, early stages with all of them. she said they move fast and would let me know quickly if there was a timeline issue 'what's your comp expectation?' -- asked directly. i gave a range. she said 'that's in range for the level we're hiring' and moved on. didn't push 'are you comfortable with a fully async, all-remote environment?' -- this felt more important than i expected. she asked a follow-up: 'give me a quick example of a challenge you had to resolve entirely over text-based communication.' this is not a throwaway question at GitLab
she also explained the process: recruiter screen, then a hiring manager chat (30 min), then a final round with 5-6 interviews over 2 days (all video).
one thing i noticed: she was very upfront about the timeline and next steps. no 'we'll be in touch' vagueness. i had the hiring manager call scheduled before we hung up. that's rare and i appreciated it.
what to have ready: your 'why GitLab' answer (be specific, the product is genuinely interesting for devtools people), an async comms story, and your range.