REA Group Interview Questions

Application

The process took 4+ weeks. I interviewed at REA Group (Richmond, VA (US)).

Interview

Great feedback throughout the process, fair and balanced approach. Was made to feel really comfortable and welcomed. I had to have two interviews and compete psychometric testing as well. Each interview went for about an hour. I was also able to ask questions.

Application

I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at REA Group (Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)).

Interview

You will be interviewed by 2-3 peoples, HR, manager and senior colleagues.
It's on site interview, mostly questions about yourself, and some technical questions.

It can be up to 1 hour interview depends on the interview panel.

Interview

5 rounds of interviews:
- phone screen: asked about some general questions such as self introduction, expected salary, why do you want to leave current company, tech stack.
- coding test: Develop a terminal app. Using TDD to implement.
- technical interview: describe the projects you worked on before. Write a SQL query based on a given question.
- behavioural interview: what motivates you. Describe a challenge for you, how do you overcome it. Describe a scenario that you set a high goal, and you achieved it..

Application

I applied online. The process took 2+ months. I interviewed at REA Group (Melbourne) in March 2020.

Interview

Total of 3 rounds, first and second are behavioural and are done online. Seems strange to me that the first 2/3 of the interviews are not about how good you are as a software engineer. I mean I know how you are as a person is important but the focus seems to be way off. Most companies strike a balance between technical rounds and behavioural rounds.

Application

I applied online. The process took 5 days. I interviewed at REA Group in February 2020.

Interview

held at headquarters with team lead and talent acquisitions. General questions on how you would handle certain situations. I signed into the lobby and waited for my interview. Was taken to a room and was sat opposite two current employees of the business.

Application

I applied through other source. I interviewed at REA Group.

Interview

Was approached by their talent rep via LinkedIn to gauge my interest in a role. There was a very specific requirement in the job description that I didn’t have and I highlighted this in the first phone call and subsequent interview but was told essentially that it was not that much of a problem. Fast forward to me getting rejected with the feedback given that they liked my answers and I asked all the right questions, but they advised that they wanted this specific skill which I had already told them initially I did not have. Huge waste of my time.

Application

I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at REA Group (Melbourne) in January 2020.

Interview

I failed at the 3rd round, pair programming. I assume that if I had passed it, there would have been 2 other rounds: technical and cultural rounds.

Rounds that I have gone through:
1. Phone Screen: the recruiter says hi and has a short chat
2. Code challenge: toy robot coding challenge
3. Pair programming: extend the toy robot code challenge with 2 of their developers

Pros:
- The recruiter named Alex was super nice and considerate even after she told me that I had failed the pair programming round
- Everything happened in a timely manner: feedback came back within a day or two, the scheduling went fast.
- The interviewers were on time, friendly and polite.
Overall, I had a very organized and professional interview experience with them.

Cons:
The pairing programming result came back negative with some words like "far from optimal", "tests were a bit of afterthought", "explanation was flawed."

I think that I kind of misinterpreted the goal of the pair programming interview, I thought it was more about collaborating and communicating, not just getting things done in isolation considering the given time. The fact is that I could not complete the first task they gave while the whole time I was refactoring the code and also trying to say out loud my thoughts, explaining why I went for a certain solution. The interviewers did not try to engage in the discussion if my solution was good or argued/explained otherwise. They just said like ok, go ahead. That said, I don't think it was a "collaborative" pair programming at all when you had to do your work and talked to someone else at the same time while they might think something else but did not want to discuss/clarify their points with you. I am a TDD developer, and I did so in the interview with tests coming first before I made any changes so the feedback like "tests were a bit of afterthought" is quite hard for me to take. After all, after years of working in the software development, I learnt to welcome other people's opinions even though they might be against mine, so it's pointless to judge if their feedback is right or wrong here, it is a subjective matter.

My tip is that you should complete at least a task in the pair programming session and try to ask the interviewers to see if they are ok with your solution, then do it quickly, don't waste time on clarifying your view on things beyond what is the simplest way to get it done.

Application

I applied through other source. The process took 4+ weeks. I interviewed at REA Group (Melbourne) in November 2019.

Interview

I applied for the Springboard to Tech program through an invitation from the general manager of the boot camp I attended. After filling out a pretty standard form, I got followed up by a phone call where I had to answer a couple of basic career and skill questions - very simple, nothing fancy (what have you done so far, where do you see yourself, salary expectations, etc.). After about 6 days, I heard back from them and got invited to a cultural interview at the HQ. They called me pretty quickly after the cultural interview, I had the interview on a Tuesday and they called me on Friday, to confirm that they would like to have me in the program. Unfortunately, they still had to check my visa status and since I wasn't holding a PR yet, they didn't go through with their offer.

Application

The process took 6+ weeks. I interviewed at REA Group (Sydney).

Interview

1. Applied direct through REA recruitment.
2. Phone interview with recruiter
3. TDD programming test in any language of choice, not at all difficult compared to other technical challenges I've previously done - so don't worry
4. Wait. Wait. Wait some more, accept another offer.

I never had feedback positive negative or otherwise from REA. This is the reason for negative experience. I've been in the industry for 10 years and worked internationally and this is the most unprofessional interview process I've had. The recruiter kept apologizing stating that the team was busy, it went on for many weeks, even after I'd started another job.

I'm sure this isn't the real REA, I suspect that perhaps a single point incompetence or failure exists in recruitment.

Application

The process took 4+ weeks. I interviewed at REA Group (Sydney).

Interview

I was interviewed for Senior Tech Lead

I invested a weekend to do the coding challenge, half day of my pay, 3 hours of f2f technical & behavioral interview

I passed the coding challenge. I faced the 3 hour interview. Im pretty sure I nailed it. To be honest, the hometrack tech lead who was present in the f2f interview wished me good luck and mentioned that he was hopeful of me joining REA as his senior tech lead.

It was rewarding when someone recognised the talent.

I was left in limbo without any updates after the 3 hour f2f interview. 2 weeks later I followed up, i was told about arranging an interview with the hiring manager to assess my stakeholder management skills.

Later no reply for 1 week and today I got a lame feedback. Below is the summary.

She decided not have the stakeholder skills interview with me as she preferred another candidate.

Apparently as per the process, a candidate get to meet her after passing through the technical & behavioral interview.

I was told by the recruiter that this candidate is in the initial stages and have not faced the technical interview yet however she liked that candidate.

I wish I could be that candidate. It is god's blessings that someone gets hired without going through the process. I wish them good luck.

Advise for REA Group
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It is okay you pick favorable candidates I wish you should not take candidates for granted.

It will be helpful if demography requirements of the candidate the hiring manager wishes to tag along is also advertised along with technical skills requirements.

Easily could make changes to interview process by taking off Coding challenge and 3 hour technical & behavioral interview.

Recognise talent.

Respect candidate's precious time and effort

Candidates
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Dont waste your time unless you believe in luck.