I’m really unimpressed with Affirm’s hiring process. The second phone interview seemed to be lacking in structure and objective metrics of evaluation. The recruiter was nice and responsive though. I give them that. I had a good conversation with the hiring manager. But it seems like the second team member I spoke with didn’t like me so I was passed over. The questions she asked didn’t get to the root of whether I’d be able to do the job. She didn’t ask business case questions, which honestly makes no sense for a job like this. Perhaps they should switch the order of interviews, so that you have an interview with the team member then the hiring manager. That way, I wouldn’t have wasted my time and the team member could have stricken me out from the start. If the hiring manager doesn’t have an issue with your candidacy in the initial stages, another team member shouldn’t be able to supplant that. As such, switching the order to have the hiring manager be the second interview makes more sense.
It started with a recruiter phone screen, an interview with hiring manager, and then an interview with another team member. My interview with the hiring manager was pretty thorough. He asked cogent questions as well as a business case. A business case I think is particularly pertinent for this role. Then I had an interview with another member of the team. She was honestly a bit cold. She didn’t ask any business case questions so I don’t know how she was able to assess my ability to actually do the job. The behavioral questions she asked were quite frankly asinine: do you have any concerns about working at a startup, are you only anchoring your job search toward fintech companies, etc. If these questions were supplemented by a business case, I think the interview would have been fine and fully evaluative of my ability to do the job.
The following day I received an email from the recruiter stating they’re not going to move forward. I conveyed my sentiments to the recruiter because honestly I think the interview content for the second interview was lacking. He said he would convey my feedback to the team. I honestly think this is a bit disingenuous because what do I care if they improve their process as a result(which they're unlikely to). That's not going to help my candidacy in any way. In an ideal world, the team would backtrack , admit the second interview was flawed, and try to rectify it whether it's by giving me some sort of assignment or offering another interview. But that's obviously never going to happen. Some companies do try to rectify their interview errors, but I think they're glaring exceptions and Affirm seemingly doesn't fall within that group.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
If affirm is going to launch a new product, what are the steps you would take to evaluate whether they should do so?
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review on your interview process with Affirm. I'm sorry to hear the experience fell short for you. In an effort to keep our hiring process fair and holistic, we make sure candidates are able speak to a variety of team members throughout their interviews and value each of our employees' feedback equally. This evaluation does include a wide range of focus areas, including both technical and behavioral questions, which we assess for and vet during the initial phone screens. We wish you the best of luck in your job search.
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