Started off well, first chat was friendly - they reached out to me from their talent pool for the interview. I was given a challenge to do. The challenge wasn't a huge task which was nice. Unfortunately the experience went downhill from here. Respect for time - During the next interview stage I had to ask for actual feedback on what I submitted in the last 10 minutes of the interview - one of the interviewers seemed to have not looked at it prior and they weren't going to mention it if I didn't... This is very disappointing and left me feeling like the process was a waste of my time. I expect to get something from the process, why it wasn't what they looked for - etc. Intellectualization - Disappointing to experience some intellectualization of what could be fairly straightforward questions from the interviewers, using words not commonly used in the music industry within questions (perhaps on purpose). I asked for clarification within the context of the question - eg. "what do you consider an asset in this context?" and got very fluffy answers from them. Questions I asked - I asked some questions, about why some features were discontinued (trying to understand their process). The interviewers claimed to have no knowledge of this. I get the feeling they don't like structure and process at Ableton. To sum up I felt there wasn't much respect given for the time I had invested and I felt like working at Ableton seemed rather unappealing. A shame as I had the company on a pedestal due to their stellar reputation within the music industry.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
(loosely paraphrased) - "what assets would you expect to encounter in a multi-instrument live performance"
I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Ableton (Pasadena, CA) in Dec 2021
Interview
This was not a cookie-cutter process, which I appreciated. Seemed to tailor specifically to this role. The process includes an introductory and final interview, but with brief activities sprinkled in between. It took just over a month from the initial call to the offer, though the holidays played a factor and a deliverable round reasonably allowed for a week each to complete 2 short deliverable assignments.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
What is the most difficult thing about project management to you?
Project Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Ableton with 3.5 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 50% positive. To compare, the company-average is 66.7% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Project Manager roles take an average of 35 days to get hired, when considering 2 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Ableton overall takes an average of 43 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Ableton as a Project Manager according to 2 Glassdoor interviews include:
Presentation: 33%
Group panel interview: 33%
Phone interview: 33%
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