BrainPOP Interview Questions
& Process

This was one of the weirdest interview experiences I've had. It started with a recruiter call, which seemed pretty standard. Then came the hiring manager round. The manager was reading from a script, which was a bit odd, but it was still manageable. The third stage was a take-home technical interview, and that's where things got really strange. It felt like either the take-home packet was AI-generated, or it was put together by different people without any consistency. The first page gave an overview of three questions, but the next page listed question 1 differently than the overview. It was unclear which version to answer. Then, I was given only 10 rows of data and asked to find insights. When I asked if there was more data, the hiring manager suggested I could 'make some if I wanted to,' which was confusing.

This interview process was pretty different from what I've done before because they really do a whole review of each person. The team you'd be joining wants to make sure you'd not only be great at the job, but also fit in with the company culture. Because of this, the process took a bit longer than I thought it would, but it let me build some real connections with my team before I accepted my offer. The hardest part of this whole thing was just waiting to get through the interview stages. The talent acquisition team did a good job responding and setting up interviews, but getting everyone's schedules to line up takes time, so you gotta be patient as you try to become a BrainPopper!

The process started off well, but ultimately was very misleading and non-transparent. After a recruiter phone screen and an on-site interview with the hiring managers (where I spoke extensively about my background and experiences being at a similar company), I then inquired about salary. After reviewing internally over a few days, the hiring manager then sent me an email (i.e. a correspondence in writing) with the approved salary range, which I agreed to. After that, we had a phone call in which a verbal offer was made, and I was told that a written offer would be sent a few days later. After about a week, I then had another phone call, in which I was told that the salary (which we previously agreed to in writing) was never approved internally, and that the actual salary would be significantly lower. In addition, I was told that this change was made because the role was actually meant to be an entry-level role---not a role for someone with experience. This was incredibly disorganized, frustrating, and quite frankly a waste of time for all people involved. All of these details should obviously have been determined prior to having applicants apply--not only out of respect for the candidates, but also out of respect for the people interviewing the candidates as well. Naturally, being someone with experience, if I had known that the position was an entry-level one, I would have never applied in the first place. Overall, I have interviewed at many companies throughout my career, and this process may have been the most frustrating one I've experienced.

First, I had a 30 minute screener scheduled with the recruiter (that ended up being 45 minutes) where he talked a lot about himself and the company and asked very few questions about my background. Next, I had a 30 minute interview with the hiring manager. He explained what to expect for the interview, allowed me to briefly talk about my experience, and then spent another 10-15 minutes (out of 30) talking about his experience and how he got to the role he was currently in. He asked me maybe 1 other question and then asked what questions I had and finished by explaining next steps. I got an email stating that I would not be moving on to the next round.