Discover interview questions

It was very organized and all interviewers were professional and courteous. I felt like I was interviewing for a company that has its stuff together. Overall it was a great interviewing experience.

Flags to look for: - No verbal contact with the recruiter - Recruiter sends an exploratory email asking when you can start, do you want to work remote / hybrid / in an office (lies... If you live within 75 miles of their office, YOU MUST COME IN 3 DAYS A WEEK) - Recruiter responds to exploratory email that asks for my salary requirements with a range that is 15k lower than what is posted. - I responded with a nice note stating this is what was posted and that I'd be at the higher-end of that range given my experience. (No response which leads into my next point) - I was scheduled with 3 Directors and 1 Sr Manager all on the same day and out of the blue with no warning or letting me know I made it to the next round...etc Monday (Chronological order) - Was scheduled to meet 4 people: #1 - Sr. Dir over GRC Compliance Tech #2 - Dir of Product Mgmt and Strategy over GRC Tech #3 - Sr. Manager, Software Engineering over GRC Tech #4 - Dir. Change Management - Let me start by saying that all the interviewers were nice. - They all made clear they only had 30 mins and they HAVE TO ASK 3 behavioral questions as part of the process. - Most showed up late because "HR knows to schedule interviews starting 5 mins after the hour" so they have time to go from meeting to meeting yet some stuck to the 30 mins so I only got 25 mins if that for an interview - 3 out of the 4 interviews happened. THE HIRING MANAGER DID NOT SHOW UP... I emailed the recruiter after 5 mins (that's 17% of the meeting) and I didn't hear back for hours. The HM was having "technical difficulties" Just to give you some insight on the role they're trying to fill: - Discover is moving from Archer to ServiceNow (SN) for their IRM needs. Me: 20 yrs in FS, former Big-4 Consultant, Computer Science, MBA I'm going to refer to the interviewers by # so it's less keystrokes and for their privacy: #1 – Super nice person. Standard questions… was happy and encouraging. #2 – Hiring Manager = NO SHOW! #3 – Software Mgr over this area. 3 asked how I'd handle things if "the Dev Manager" had conflicting priorities. - I felt like saying, “that question is for you” but that would clearly come off badly so I opted for: - Well, first I need to know how many Devs are assigned to my group / area. - Then I need to know what their production level is (burn rate) - I could tell 3 didn't like those answers so 3 then shifted the conversation to managing and maintaining backlogs...etc I asked how they were doing it now and 3 said they had to write/rewrite a lot of the stories. To anyone that has experience in SDLC or Scrum this a problem. It generally means DFS doesn't have clear lines of responsibility. I looked up 3 on LinkedIn ahead of time and it seems that this individual is actively leading DEI efforts, which is commendable. On 3’s LI, 3 emphasizes this aspect, along with sharing details about a recent trip to SN's Santa Clara HQ to receive Acrylic awards, it appears the entire crew I interviewed with, attended. Notably, these aspects were highlighted more prominently than the work he has accomplished as a Software Engineering Manager. #4 Nice but seemed stressed out - 4 shared that 4’s department often has to write requirements or even project manage change for the GRC Product Group. WHAT? WHY? Also shared that transformation is happening at a snail’s pace and the business is questioning how the cutover is being conducted (could be typical resistance to change - doubt it!). A couple of days later I had the interview with #3 who is the HM. Also, a nice person. - Has been with DFS for ~20 years and the Dir of Global Operations; Dir for GRC Tech for the past 7 months This person was easy-going but didn’t appear to be super motivated or enthusiastic about the entire transformation that is under this person’s remit. I answered the 3 obligatory questions and then was done with 10 mins to spare. No follow up questions from the HM to the STAR-type answers I gave. So, I had to start asking questions to keep the conversation going. I asked if this was a new role because the team is growing or if I was backfilling someone else’s role. The HM told me the person whose role I'd be filling moved to another part of the team "because it was just too much for them". Yikes! Once the HM started to see that I’ve worked SN projects before, the HM perked up a little but that was it. I think we ended the call 2 mins over time. All-in-all, this was a very disappointing experience; smells like they already had their candidate picked!