I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Rakuten (Palo Alto, CA) in May 2015
Interview
I was referred by an internal manager at the company and was scheduled to talk to an H.R. person for a phone screening. The interview was scheduled very quickly and I was unimpressed by the quality and relevance of the interviewer's questions. While the conversation flowed and the interview seemed to be going well, I sensed that the interviewer was not interested no matter what I said. I am a very experienced and qualified person and I thought that this was a case where H.R. should not make decisions on behalf of hiring managers.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo) in Jan 2025
Interview
First round with the Hiring Manager and Second round with some team members. They explain they are hiring for someone to work on new projects that were started by them but overloaded.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo) in Jan 2022
Interview
Was told from the start that my qualifications probably didn't meet the bar of the job ad, was made to feel inferior the whole time. Very rude managers (all non-Japanese)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you set a roadmap for so and so product?
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo)
Interview
It is a very long and tedious process. A total waste of time. It starts with a video interview followed by 3 face to face meetings. For each interview you're asked to prepare a presentation to show not only your background but share your business ideas. If you are not English native they will ask you to take an English test even though some interviewers do not speak it well. You may also need to provide a recommendation letter at a later stage. In my case, the entire process took almost 4 months before being rejected. The interviewers were very gentle and thanked me a lot for the business ideas I shared with them.