SmartAsset Product Manager interview questions

Overall interview process was okay. After the initial HR screening call, the person who supposed to show up for my first round of interview stood me up and just never showed. After reconnecting with HR, they were able to get me back on track and made me meet someone a level below the previous interviewer and was on the same level as the position I was applying for. I had a good time speaking with her and then moved on to case study, which took about 3 hours to complete along with several other interviews. During that time, I spoke with two director level interviewers on their product team and they both mentioned that the next step would be to do a reference check and then if everything works out, an offer. So after all the dust settled, I got an email the next Monday from HR asking for my reference contact info, I was quite excited thinking that they want to move forward with me. After the references were contacted, I emailed HR again and was told that they already got the reference check done and will have someone from HR contacting me in the next day or two. Then I got another email from one of the directors I spoke with letting me know that they suddenly added a last round of interview with the Chief Product Officer. Just like the previous interview review that was posted, this round was completely out of the blue and I was initially told that the call would be just chatting about my background and my interest in the company, but I was completely blindsided by some really out of the left field questions and technical jargons that made me feel like it was more of an ambush. I still felt like I held my own during the interview and was able to provide some sound and reasonable answers, and I then again asked what the next step of the process is. The CPO told me that due to holidays, HR is a bit slow but I should hear back within the next week or so. Then it was radio-silence all the way till after new years, and I was told that they decided to NOT move forward due to another candidate being better. This is just quite frustrating overall considering that they contacted my references and I was told that would be the step prior to the offer, and all of the interviewers, including the CPO, had told me they are looking to double their current product team as we speak and scale up their Product department, yet that was the response I got. Overall it felt quite unprofessional to be told something and then suddenly adding a random interview that was more unexpected than I was told also. The overall lack of transparency was also disappointing, given that they were advocating transparency throughout my interviews. I actually did enjoy meeting most of the people and really thought I would've been a great fit for it, and I really don't have hard feelings toward them on the eventual decision since I understand at the end of the day they need to do what's best for the company. Just the level of unprofessionalism displayed with the overall process does make me feel quite disappointed and frustrated. What the previous poster posted in regards to the Product Manager interview was almost identical to what happened to me, except they dragged out the response much longer than they should. Not only did they waste my time, they also wasted my references’ time as they were asked to fill out a questionnaire, and I know for a fact that it wasn’t my references problem that I didn’t get the offer since they were the references I’ve always used for my previous jobs. I wouldn't recommend people wasting time applying to them since they are NOT serious about actually hiring qualified candidates, especially given how we were treated.

It was somewhat frustrating of a process, messy and out of order (I spoke to the second tier interviewer first without knowing) and without clear communication. But the main reason I feel negatively about it is because I went through four rounds of interviews, one of which was a 2.5 hour day, and completed a three hour case study, only to get the rejection through the recruiter without any feedback. I put a lot of effort into the case study and presenting it. I spoke with multiple team members that day and felt I connected with the team. I had been told that was the final round, but then a last interview was added with the c-level for the dept I was interviewing with. It was way more intense than I was anticipating and full of high level jargon and theoreticals. I think that’s where I lost the thread, but who knows. I definitely didn’t shine there and that’s on me, but the questions were sort of bizarre. It’s really disappointing not to get feedback after all that, and not even to get a response from the actual company. Also, I can’t be sure without feedback, but based on my experience of the process, I would’ve had the position if not for that final interview, which shows a lack of trust in the hiring team. Overall, I will say it seemed like a strong team of good people who I did enjoy speaking with (though I can’t say I appreciated the bs of the c-level interview). That seems to be the state of interviewing now, every tech company wants to interview like Google- but I’ve interviewed at Google and you at least get a response.