I applied online. No reply for 3 weeks. Things started moving after I contacted a sourcer asking what’s the status. It took 2 weeks to arrange the phone interview. Some materials were sent, asking me to prepare and study for the interview. Who has time for that nowadays? I was interviewed by another product manager. The interview was rushed. It felt like the interviewer was following a script. After a brief introduction, I was bombarded by several abstract open-ended questions. For example: * What advice would you give to the CEO of Google? * Pick something that annoys you about a product and describe how would you eliminate that? * How do you calculate how many calories are in a grocery store? Having years of experience in product management for another globally known consumer company and having interviewed product managers myself, I tried to demonstrate critical thinking and my approach to problem solving, but apparently it was not enough. Perhaps I hesitated a little bit or didn’t describe my approach well enough. I was not sure what the interviewer was looking for, so it was hard to elaborate. It felt like he got stuck with his questions, he didn’t probe enough. I guess I’m not the fastest thinker when being asked random abstract questions, but then again, this is not a critical factor in succeeding in almost any role. I don’t think the interviewer asked the right questions to evaluate my skills and knowledge. Finally, he didn’t leave almost any time for questions to him. I usually allocate at least 1/4 of time for questions when I conduct interviews. Considering the time and effort to go through the interview process and the randomness of getting through the interview, it’s no wonder they miss out on many talented people, who join startups instead. PS. They declined my suggestion to use Google Hangout for the interview and opted for a phone call instead. I mean, we are in the 21st century already, why not have a video call using their own product?