The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Sage (Reading, England)
Interview
Applied for Product Owner role. Interviewed at their Reading office. Complete waste of time if you are looking for a job.
I have had over 50+ interviews across many large companies and I know when someone is wasting your time..
As soon as you arrive they give you a sheet of paper with their “PO exercise” - they ask you to bring your own laptop with you to complete the exercise. As soon as I arrived, I was left in a room by myself for 2 hours to complete this exercise. After preparing the exercise I was asked to present the results for 5mins. So in total I was only given 5mins of their time, which I think is an absolute joke if you’ve travelled to their office for an interview.
I think a few things from this experience:
1. They interview candidates for fun with no intention of offering them the job - the role I applied for is constantly advertised on their website and hasn’t disappeared. They must invite candidates in all the time just to give them this exercise and give them only 5mins of their time; very clever from their side as they don’t have to commit any time with you!
2. They have a very well refined a PO exercise which they told me they always give to candidates and even asked me for feedback on how to improve their exercise for future candidates. (What a joke, this shows the number of people they must invite for interviews and waste their time)
3. They don’t have time for you - as with any interview you get ready, travel there etc I think it’s only polite and professional that the interviewer also gives you some of their time. Asking someone to complete an exercise for 2 hours in a room by themselves with only 5mins of speaking to them when I had to present the exercise is rude.
Overall, I had high expectations for sage but felt let down. I don’t really write reviews but sharing this experience with others so you don’t waste your time.
Had a preliminary call with HR, then a 1-2-1 with the hiring manager. The preliminary call with HR seemed to go really well (all the usual questions about your skills and experience). The next stage was weird - it felt like the hiring manager didn't actually want to interview me, and felt I was not the right fit for the role even before we started (so it felt like all the questions were about the skills and experience I didn't have on my CV, and it felt like he was trying to demonstrate how unsuitable he thought I was, rather than find out if I was suitable or not).
I was left wondering why he actually agreed to put me forward to this stage when he clearly didn't think I was suitable (and I admit, based upon the questions he was asking, that I probably wasn't particularly suitable - it was like the job he was recruiting for, and the job on the JD that HR was recruiting for, were different roles).
Afterwards, I never heard another word from the company (yep, ghosted me) and was left feeling disheartened by the whole process.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you set a pricing strategy and calculate the LTV for a brand new product?
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Sage in Nov 2020
Interview
Initially was contacted by an HR rep that informed me I was moving to the interview phase. She set up a date an time for a virtual interview with the manager of the team I'd be joining.
Spoke with the manager of the team I would be joining through Microsoft Teams. She asked me some light technical questions about troubleshooting, some personality questions, and one or two accounting questions. She then let me ask a few questions about the position. Very casual and conversational.