Cayuse Interview Questions
& Process

I applied for a Product Manager role and was contacted by a director at Cayuse. The interview process spanned 3 months and involved 8 interviews with 9 different people. There were extended periods of no contact, including a month and a half after the initial 5 interviews. Towards the end, my role was switched to Product Owner just before an offer was made. I countered the salary, and within 24 hours, the offer was rescinded. HR couldn't explain why, so I contacted the director. He stated the offer was pulled because I "did not seem excited" and they "want people who are excited to work here." He also mentioned my counter-offer came across as arrogant, implying salary was my only concern, despite countering being a common practice. Instead of negotiating salary, they withdrew the offer entirely. This prolonged and unprofessional process, including switching my title and rescinding the offer for petty reasons, leads me to advise serious candidates against applying to Cayuse. It took over 3 months, 8 interviews with 9 people, a title change a week before the offer, a verbal offer rescinded within 24 hours, and ultimately, the offer was pulled over something as minor as countering the salary. My advice for anyone interested: seem overly excited about their offer, no matter how good or bad, and do not counter their salary offer, as they perceive it as arrogance.

The interview process included 4 interviews. It began with a phone screening by a recruiter, followed by meetings with the person who would be taking over the role, the Support Manager, and the Head of Product, who would be the direct manager. The conversations were pretty casual and focused more on whether I'd fit in with the team culture than on assessing my skills. We did talk about the job, and there were questions, but it felt more like a relaxed chat than a formal interview. I really liked this approach because it felt like a better way to gauge long-term compatibility compared to a more structured interview with set questions. It was great to be able to ask my own questions and get straightforward answers. The whole thing moved pretty fast, about 2-3 weeks from the first call to the offer. It didn't feel rushed, though; it seemed like they were keen to keep things moving and well-organized without making candidates wait around.

It was 3 phone calls with the CTO, Product, and CEO. Then, there was a 3.5 hour virtual meeting with various teams including sales, marketing, COO, and other product managers. After that meeting, there was no further response. I sent 2 follow-up emails to the internal recruiter with no reply. This is for a VP role, and it's disappointing not to get a response. I understand I may not have made the cut, but it would be courteous to at least inform me and close out the process.

The people were nice but the process was slow and disorganized in terms of getting back to candidates. They would promise dates to respond but it would take weeks. This felt like a waste of time and effort, especially after completing 4-5 interviews. It felt a bit exploitative, as if candidates only mattered if they were perceived as the best. The scheduler, Josie, was slow and unresponsive, typical of millennial communication, and didn't even provide a phone number.