IA Collaborative Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process had 2 rounds. The first round was with 1 interviewer (HR) and was mostly behavioral, including a brief introduction of your background. The second round was with 2 interviewers (department head), where I had to create a 10-page deck to present a case I worked on in my previous job.

I interviewed in late December, applying via a referral. The initial response was positive, with the interviewer noting I was a strong candidate and that our conversation about my AI project experience went well. The hiring manager seemed very interested and suggested we'd connect again in early January. However, in the first week of January, I got a standard rejection email without any explanation, which was confusing given the earlier positive signals and interest in moving forward.

I'm posting this a year after my interview. I took a class with a partner during my MBA and was disappointed that their human-centered approach isn't for candidates. My first interview was with HR, who seemed disengaged. The second was with a senior person in my department, which was informal and nice. The last interview was a very bad experience. We had to present 2 deliverables in 15 minutes each, with 15 minutes for questions. The panel included the dept leader, a junior member, and 2 cross-dept people. The boss was condescending, saying things like 'only 1 work will be enough' and 'we are much more expensive than the project deal'. I was supposed to have a 1-on-1 with him after, but he was yawning and reading questions from the screen condescendingly, showing no interest. It's unfortunate that IA promotes toxic people like him, though the others were nice but disengaged. I still feel this was the right company, role, and industry for me. Maybe one day he won't be there and they'll call me.

The whole thing was kinda messy and not really organized. It started with an email from a principal creative who seemed to not know the difference between graphic and visual design. Then, people from Interaction Design contacted me via email and phone, and they were confused why they were talking to a visual designer - I think they expected a UX designer. After that, I had an in-person interview where I had to present my online portfolio to about 11 people. It was a mixed bag; some were friendly, but some random people came and went, and one person was on their phone the whole time. A couple of others seemed totally checked out or annoyed. The meeting was about 1.5 hours, and I mostly answered questions about my design process, current employer, and clients. They said HR would contact me about next steps, but I never heard anything, even after reaching out multiple times. It felt really unprofessional, so I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.