I applied online. I interviewed at Diligent in July 2023
Difficult interview
Application
I interviewed at Diligent
Interview
The interview process looked straightforward at first, and the invitation emails mostly contained some hints or explicit instructions on what to prepare with. However in reality 3 out of the 4 professional interviews did not go according to the agenda, and it was frustrating to get rejected after the last round after investing so much time in preparing for the wrong topics. The whole process felt unorganized, there was one case when I had to call the organizer 5 minutes before the meeting if there's going to be an interview at all, because I had no official invitation for the pre-agreed time. At another time, I got an invitation for a round I already had, and I had to pinpoint for the recruiter over the phone on what should be my next round.
As for the interview topics, here's what was the original agenda was vs reality:
-Pre-screening call - just what you would expect
-Product Sense - this turned out to be a Metrics interview, in retrospect I was just sent the wrong preparation email
-Product Sense - this time for real, but I got the meeting invitation 5 minutes before the interview itself, after reminding the recruiter just before the call
-Execution Interview - Felt more like a Metrics Interview again
-Leadership + Cross Functioncal collaboration - which again felt rather like a Product Sense interview. This was the last round
Even though these significant organizational issues raised a huge red flag, the interviewers themselves were professional and knowledgeable. The questions were relevant, and the tasks were genuinely interesting, which helped offset the shortcomings of the overall process to some extent. I would have loved to join, but in the end I was just left with a frustrating experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Engagement dropped X% from one day to another, what do you do?
There was an initial call with the recruiter and then an interview with the hiring manager. Then, there was a presentation to a group in the development and product management teams. All interviews were virtual.