academy associate

Submitted application, transcript, etc. Then questionnaires, case study, behavioral interview, case coach interview. Very slow and long winded process. I feel that the Academy associate recruiting process is largely a PR move by the company to rehab its image after the Steve Cohen scandal. Because they actually only hire less than 10 trainees but makes recruiting a rolling process to get as many applicants as possible, when in reality, they look for very specific and cookie cutter backgrounds. The large scale advertising for the academy program seems to be the same PR show year after year. I find it hard to believe why they don't just hire 30 people one year if there was such a great need, instead of massive recruiting efforts for just <10 spots. Either they have very high turnover rate and/or the PR aspect to rehab the criminal history of the company. I have personal issues working for a company that has a criminal record, where the fund is only allowed to invest in Steve Cohen's money due to government regulation/fines.

I would have preferred to get an actual decision maker decide the fit/resume going through the 2 month long process, which seems like a waste of time, because previous rounds are just submitting cases and questionnaires, and talking to HR, and not getting an actual decision maker to review the resume.
You only get an actual decision maker very late into the process( after 2 months) and it seems the interviewer has already formed an opinion by then about whether to hire even before the interview, and only did the interview as a PR effort to increase the applicant pool and goodwill of the company - continuous learning, training helping next generation spiel. How else can they attract the best talent after the fund has been tainted by insider trading + other scandals? My interviewer was very abruptly and joined over 10 minutes late, kept changing the interview time. Seems like a lack of strong company culture, very cutthroat and everyone does their own thing.