Generally as follows: 1) HR screening and career discussion 2) HR internal job matching 3) Analyze a case study and submit a presentation 4) 1 hour webcam interview with a peer and hiring leader. 5) On-site 1 hour case study and presentation to a panel group.
Overall the process showed promise. HR was well organized and a delight to work with. They were more solid than most HR organizations. It failed in execution with step 4.
- The interviewers were 10 minutes late which they apologized for.
- The room was a depressing plain corporate white room with a whiteboard though I am aware they do have some very state of the art, delightful modern buildings on their campus.
- The process went off the rails when the interviewers asked for an on-the-spot strategy articulation not for the well researched and articulated case study but for a product that I use and like. They expected a clearly articulated story and what they got was ideation and thinking out loud. The product I chose was not one I'd thought about ever strategically.
- Though the peer asked thoughtful questions, the hiring leader's body language (moving about, head down, impatience, anxiety, verbal noises, etc) was unhinged and a significant distraction. At one point went on a tangent and started discussing specific UX tactical details and user reviews, not strategy, about the mobile version of the product he downloaded. Although similarly branded what he downloaded is actually a different product for a different target user than the product I chose and not a product I had used.
Overall part 4 of the process was a setup for failure unless you already had a product in mind and had working knowledge and a vision you could articulate clearly. My personal learning is to set expectations that I'm expressing my thoughts out loud, not a cohesive story.
My feedback to HR is to have the interviewers stick to the case study and behavioral questions when it comes to a discussion about a specific product strategy. It's complex and requires significant thought, data, knowledge and reflection and that doesn't lend itself well to on-the-fly strategy development. My expectation was we'd talk about the case study and build and explore on that foundation with the grunt research work and initial analysis out of the way.