Was this hiring for ML positions? As someone who hired for this in general we'd use PhD (or maybe a Masters degree) as a filter by HR before I even saw them.

Was this hiring for ML positions? As someone who hired for this in general we'd use PhD (or maybe a Masters degree) as a filter by HR before I even saw them. It's true that a PhD doesn't guarantee anything though. I once interviewed a candidate with 2 PhDs who couldn't explain the difference between regression and classification (which was sort of our "ok lets calm your nerves" question).