I applied online. I interviewed at Via Transportation in Nov 2019
Interview
I applied to Via a very very long time ago (6 Mo+). One day I received a random email from a Via recruiting saying he saw my resume in the system and think it's a good fit for the Expansion team (not the original position I applied before), so he would like to broker a phone call with a team member to discuss more on that position. I agreed as it never hurts to learn about the company and the role seems interesting.
Then I spent 2 nights doing all the due-diligence as I would normally do for an interview. Also reviewed all postings on Glassdoor and know of some weird interview behaviours. Then I had the call scheduled on a late Friday afternoon. The call itself was not bad, but it did feel like a very structured "real interview" instead of a phone chat, and involves multiple behavioural and case questions. Similar to many other posts here, the case is a real problem that the interviewer is working on and wants to know how I would approach it. I gave her my ideas in some details and she seemed to be happy about it and indicated that's what she would do too. I thought the conversation went well and we even went out in lengths to discuss the future prospect of the team and the business. The vibe I got from the interviewer was very positive and I thought I woud at least get another chat down the road.
The shocking news came the following Monday morning 8 AM that I got a very generic rejection email from the recruiter with no specifics provided. Now reflecting on everything I read here, it's either an interivew practice for the interviewer (granted the interviewer just graduated from MBA this year and I graduated 3,4 years ago, both from elite schools), or it's their standard way of fishing for / validating ideas for difficult problems.
I feel Via is a compoany that does not give the appropriate respect to candidates. The recruiting team does not know what they are doing, nor who they are really looking for. The interviews are merely a crowd-sourcing channel for new ideas / or free consulting for their businesses. DO NOT WASTER YOU TIME WITH THEM.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How do you manage multiple priorities at the same time? Tell me about an unpopular decision that you made and how did you handle it?
Entretien avec le directeur de la zone france.l entretien n était pas cordial du tout avec des questions à la fois hors sujet et le directeur était assez rude. Il était en retard et assez amateur.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Mon parcours professionnel quels étaient challenges
I applied online. I interviewed at Via Transportation
Interview
Long story short — I’ve probably interviewed at Via for at least four different positions over the past two years, all of which somehow have different names but also incredibly similar descriptions and roles. And every time I interview I’m being interviewed by someone with far fewer years of experience, who sounds incredibly bored and asks zero questions that are related to my actual work background and skill set. The questions are canned and boring and slim and clearly not modified from a script. I’m not sure why I still apply except for every few months or so a recruiter reaches out with what looks like a great urbanist/policy/tech role. And every time, despite being put off by “elite university” being included in a job description (how pretentious), I apply against my better judgement — and land an interview! It’s always a disappointment, and I’m not sure what this company is actually looking for or why they choose the interview strategy that they do. And, on a side note, if you’re a transportation company that has sustainability as a core principle, you wouldn’t require people to relocate to an unaffordable city for a job that can be easily done at home. Anyways, good luck out there for those who who will still apply. I don’t think it’s worth it.
Series of 7-8 interviews across 4 rounds. Long process, but hiring was clearly taken seriously and provided an opportunity to get to know the culture better and get to know lots of different team members.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you approach product prioritization with a partner?
Principal applicants have rated the interview process at Via Transportation with 3.4 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 33% positive. To compare, the company-average is 31% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Principal roles take an average of 52 days to get hired, when considering 9 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Via Transportation overall takes an average of 31 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Via Transportation as a Principal according to 9 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 46%
One on one interview: 38%
Background check: 8%
Other: 8%
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