Formation Bio Product Manager Interview Questions
& Process

First, I passed the initial HR screen and the hiring manager interview, both virtual, which went smoothly. The hiring manager seemed engaged with my background. Next, I had a virtual panel interview with four other people, including the two co-founders. Honestly, it felt like they weren't interested from the beginning, and I noticed them working on other things. About 10 minutes in, they mentioned that they were looking for different skills than what was listed in the job description and what the HR and hiring manager had told me.

This company has an unprofessional, borderline unethical interview process. It was the worst interview experience of my career. I spent about $1k to travel to their offices for an onsite interview, and this cost was not reimbursed. During the interview, one of the interviewers rudely interrupted another interviewer mid-question and told me to leave. This was surprising to both me and the PM I was interviewing with. This onsite interview occurred after two prior screens with the recruiter and the CTO. I had prepared and delivered a 30-minute presentation to three PMs and was in the middle of a discussion about the role with a PM when the interruption happened. I was shocked and asked if I had done something wrong, but the recruiter said no. The process began with an outreach on LinkedIn. I found the company's mission to make drug discovery cheaper and faster compelling, so I proceeded with the recruiter and CTO screens. I had a good conversation with the CTO about the business and the role. My current job is similar to what TrialSpark is looking for, and I have extensive experience in the field. I offered to extend my trip to New York to accommodate an onsite interview, incurring about $1k in hotel and travel change fees that were not covered. I've interviewed extensively and interviewed others, and I've never seen an interview interrupted so rudely, a lack of cost reimbursement for travel, or such a casual disregard for the interview process. Ironically, the case question was about recruiting trial participants, which makes me question their ability to attract participants.

The interview started with a recruiter phone screen, followed by a phone interview with a Senior Product Manager. The final round was an on-site interview involving Design leads, Product leads, the CTO, and Operations leads. I had a few other offers already after my phone screens, and Drew was great at speeding things up for me. The process was handled really well, and I felt I got plenty of chances to ask all my questions.