Feedback Loop Interview Questions
& Process

The onboarding process was smooth, and the recruiter was very humble. The company has an excellent work culture. India is known for long working hours, with many professionals working more than 40 hours a week to meet deadlines. However, things are changing with a growing emphasis on work-life balance and well-being in some sectors.

Overall, communication was good. First was an HR call about the position and company, asking about my experience and company knowledge. This was a phone call. Second, a Zoom interview with a manager, going deeper into the position and my experience. Next, another Zoom interview with a project manager and engineers who showed me their product and asked about my experience. The engineers hadn't interviewed before. It mixed behavior and technical questions. They needed someone experienced to step in immediately for this new role, not someone to grow into it like me. If I had passed, there would have been a take-home assessment, but I didn't advance so I don't know what it entailed. Passing that presumably led to an offer. Good communication throughout. I wasn't offered the role because they wanted someone more experienced who could lead testing efforts, provide testing coverage, and know what tests were needed when.

I had a phone screening with the manager of the UX Testing team, then a second call with someone else from the same team. The first call went really well; the interviewer even mentioned that he thought his founder would be interested in chatting with me due to my personal interests. The second interviewer was informative but seemed uninterested, even though I usually ask a lot of questions, so I don't think it was my fault. She asked me pretty much the same questions as the first person and only asked one superficial UX-related question, even though I was ready to dive deep into detailed UX topics to show my expertise. A few days later, I got a standard rejection email. I then sent a detailed and sincere email to the hiring manager asking for feedback, but it was ignored.

The whole thing was: a call with the recruiter, then a call with a manager, then a take home assignment, then an on-site interview, and then reference checks. It took FOREVER and I only heard updates if I badgered them. It took 3 months from start to finish. My suggestion to them is to make it faster and less repetitive, like don't ask everyone the same questions. I was asked by everyone what I thought the role was and why I wanted to join Alpha. No actual questions about research or methodologies.