ideas42 Interview Questions
& Process

I applied for a Project Manager role at Ideas42 and was quickly sent a case study. It involved analysis, drafting mock emails and management plans for a new project, and reviewing a linear regression model for client feedback. I found the case study engaging, though the regression model was unexpected given the job description. I had ample time, about half a day, to complete it. About a week later, I was invited to a one-hour Zoom interview with a department lead. I was initially excited but still curious about the regression part and if it aligned with the role. The communication was positive, and I appreciated their stated commitment to reducing bias in hiring. However, the interview itself was disappointing and felt unprofessional. It seemed to confirm some negative reviews about the company favoring certain backgrounds. The interviewer appeared distracted and uninterested from the start, making me question the genuine purpose of the interview. The 'semi-structured' format, meant to 'avoid bias,' felt like a monotonous way to ask the same questions repeatedly, possibly graded against a matrix. I suspected the interviewer might have reacted differently to someone from a similar background, diminishing the impact of my experience or qualifications. A week later, I was notified I didn't proceed, which, surprisingly, I was relieved about given the experience.

So after I sent in my resume and cover letter for the first round, I got a case study for the second round which I had a week to finish and send back. They actually took a month to get back to me after I sent it in, which was two weeks later than they said. The third round, which was this interview, was on Skype and lasted an hour. It was split into a 20-minute case interview and then 40 minutes of just regular questions about my past experiences and stuff. I got to choose which part to do first. For the case part, they gave me two businesses and I had to use behavioral economics to figure out why they would make different business choices.

Applied online, got contacted in 1-2 weeks for a phone interview. It was scheduled via calendar, but the call never came. I emailed the scheduler and got an out-of-office reply. Then I emailed the backup contact to reschedule. No reply, so I followed up 2 days later. After some back and forth, the phone interview was rescheduled, and I had to call the interviewer. The call was about 15 minutes. They didn't ask about my experience or goals, just discussed the company and position. It was pretty clinical. We talked salary, and I was told I'd get a case study that day or the next business day. Two more business days passed before I followed up for the case study. I got it right away, but the salary in the email was way lower than discussed. The due date was also wrong. I emailed back about the salary, and they confirmed it was incorrect the next day. I decided not to proceed with the case study because I never got a written confirmation of the correct salary, just that I could assume the phone discussion was what I could go by. Also, the case study seemed overly complicated for the manager-level role, especially with the initial low salary expectations. The whole process was really disorganized, which makes me question the organization. It's a shame because the mission is impressive.

After I submitted my resume, I was given a case study that took me about 6 hours to finish. I returned it within a few days and then waited a whole month to get a response. I had reached out to my contact multiple times before they finally let me know that they had moved on with other candidates. I really wish they had been more upfront about the process and that they would have provided some feedback on the case study I put so much time into.