Researcher applicants have rated the interview process at Rakuten with 3 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 44.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Researcher roles take an average of 75 days to get hired, when considering 4 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Rakuten overall takes an average of 35 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Rakuten as a Researcher according to 4 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 29%
Presentation: 29%
Skills test: 14%
Phone interview: 14%
Background check: 14%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Rakuten (Seoul) in Dec 2016
Interview
The process took more than 8 weeks. I was contacted by a recruiter. When I agreed for the position, he sent me two links, one for a recorded interview and second for the codility coding test. The questions were same as in the previous glassdoor reviews, introduction and "sum of area of squares" question and another question. I passed the test. Then they gave me another two codility tests, one was about finding a bug in the code and second was about writing the code. I passed again. Then they asked me to make a powerpoint presentation about myself and send it to them and tell them how I can contribute to their company.
Then, the recruiter scheduled an interview for me and told me that it was very difficult to arrange as the managers were very busy. A Non-Japanese took my interview and asked me about everything on my CV. He seemed pretty disinterested in taking the interview as if he had already decided to reject me. I assume he was looking for a PhD while I had only Master's degree in computer vision but as I was able to pass the tests and recruiter insisted on him to take the interview, so he took it. A week later I got the rejection e-mail.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo) in Jul 2022
Interview
The First stage: To introduce my own research to the engineer, and he would ask some questions about the research and the knowledge about machine learning or related knowledge, and finally he asked me to do a coding test with a shared screen.
The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th stage: More like natural communication about the research experience or value. However, I received rejected after the 4th interview, and I have no idea about why...
I took the coding test for the pre-screening process and still do not know the result yet. After the coding test, there might be two or more round for oral interviews.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They asked about Bob Adventurer's story for finding the minimum number of bullets that he will shoot?
Applying for a researcher position in RIT. The interview process was chaotic and confusing to me.
The application was through one recruiting agency, but RIT hiring manager was always reluctant to communicate through the agency for the whole interview process. Basically, I was not informed of nothing about the interview beforehand.
I got the confirmation of first interview 7 days beforehand. But it was the third day before the first interview, I was asked to prepare a presentation about myself and my past experience. The first round is a technical interview all around the presentation.
I passed the first round and completed a codility coding test which was fairly easy. I asked the recruiting agency if they can ask the topic for the second round, but until the last day, the agency still told me hiring manager gave no response.
Then it came to the second round, it was technical again, the same way as the first round. There were two interviewers. They looked nice but their questions made me very confused. Such as, one interviewer asked who is my PhD supervisor (I already graduated for a couple of years), the other person asked a detailed technical question which is not related to my research field. Not surprisingly, I got a rejection.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Coding test: fix bugs for a code fragment
Interview: who is your PhD supervisor