Product Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Canonical with 3.2 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 7% positive. To compare, the company-average is 14.9% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Product Manager roles take an average of 22 days to get hired, when considering 14 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Canonical overall takes an average of 51 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Canonical as a Product Manager according to 14 Glassdoor interviews include:
IQ intelligence test: 27%
Phone interview: 17%
Personality test: 17%
One on one interview: 17%
Skills test: 10%
Background check: 3%
Group panel interview: 3%
Drug test: 3%
Presentation: 3%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Canonical (London, England) in Jan 2021
Interview
Started with a 'homework' based on the role and moved on with interviews with other product managers, some new style IQ-Personality tests, interviews with VPs and lastly CEO.
Mostly good people, mostly valid and role related questions with some 'lets see how you respond to an unexpected question' moments as well. Get ready to deep dive into your high school life though as the CEOs mostly interested in that part.
Whole process took almost 2 months. I 'believe' the result is negative cuz I couldn't even get a response to my email after the CEO interview. Until then (4 meetings, 2 quize, 1 strategy document that frankly is worth at least couple of thousands) HR was generally responsive however it was still me who had to follow up on each step to get the next step going. After the 'last' interview, all comms stopped. I wish they had the decency to at least respond to a candidate that has invested so much time into the process and has shared so much personal information with you.
I recently completed Canonical's application process for an Enterprise Project Manager role. The application itself was a significant time suck, but what I found most troubling were questions about high school mathematics and language performances, including requests to justify answers with standardised test scores and academic rankings.
High school performance has nothing to do with professional aptitude. Many talented, capable people have disrupted educations, working multiple jobs to get through college, raising families while studying, or coming from underprivileged backgrounds. GPA and high school test scores do not reflect intelligence or ability. They reflect circumstances.
These questions are discriminatory in their impact, even if unintentional. We are years past COVID, which exposed every inequality in our education system. For a company that prides itself on global diversity and inclusion, these questions send the opposite message.
The interview process was thorough, but not overwhelming or too long. They focused on skills and experience, rather than asking trick questions. Interviewer was warm and friendly, I enjoyed the experience
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell us about the most impactful project you’ve handled
Just after applying for a role, they send you an email with lots of questions to complete a written submissions (when I say a lot of questions, I mean 6 sections with at least 5 questions each). They ask you not to use any AI or assistant to make it true and honest. I spent around 1 hour to answer every question. All to get an rejection "no-reply" email on the next day without any detailed feedback on why I was rejected.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
6 categories:
Engineering experience (7 questions, like "Describe your experience with enterprise infrastructure and application management, either as a user running enterprise operations, or as a vendor targeting the enterprise market").
Management experience (4 questions like "Describe the daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly habits you expect in a well-run software engineering team, for individuals and the team").
Industry leadership experience (4 questions like "Describe your experience using content to generate interest in your product")
Canonical context (5 questions like "Outline your thoughts on the mission of Canonical. What is it about the company's purpose and goals which is most appealing to you? What is risky or unappealing? Are there any elements of the company goals that you are unsure about?")
Education (9 questions like "Can you make a case that you are in the top 5% in your academic year, or top 1%, or even higher? If so, please outline that case. Make reference where possible to standardised testing results at regional or national level, or university entrance results. Please explain any specific grading system used").
Domain-specific questions (10 domains, each one with specific questions, like "AI/ML & MLOps - Describe where you see the market for AI/ML & MLOps going over the next 5 years?"