Project 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 Project 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 Project Manager according to 14 Glassdoor interviews include:
IQ intelligence test: 27%
Personality test: 17%
One on one interview: 17%
Phone interview: 17%
Skills test: 10%
Drug test: 3%
Presentation: 3%
Group panel interview: 3%
Background check: 3%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Canonical
Interview
Contacted by external recruiter. Seemed friendly and positive, helped prepare for interview. Short, casual interview with Head of Design at London Head Office, was told they would be in touch for second stage. It seemed to go well and be extremely positive.
Negative rating for sole reason: Never heard back at all, no feedback given, no response to any of my questions or contact. Slightly unprofessional for such a large well known company.
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?"