Kiavi Interview Questions
& Process

The whole thing dragged on for like two months. It started with the recruiter hitting me up on LinkedIn. There were supposed to be three rounds, mostly just engineering stuff, no product interviews at all. They were upfront about the pay, like 120k USD as a contractor, *wink wink LATAM engineers*. Then, out of the blue, they threw in an extra round for pair programming, kinda like those Amazon ones where they want to 'raise the bar'. Not sure if that was just me, though. The last round didn't go so hot because, honestly, the recruiter was super vague about what to expect until I pushed in that last interview, and then boom, 3 hours of tech interviews with no real heads-up or prep time. Plus, I'm not great with JS, and that was one of the only languages allowed (Ruby, JS, Python). The interviewers were nice enough, some really wanted to get to know me as an engineer, others were super strict, like FAANG, expecting the 'right' answers without any room for brainstorming. After that last one, it went dead silent for days. I figured I was ghosted. I tried to follow up after two days, but got an auto-reply saying the recruiter was out of office. Ten days later, I got the rejection email, which offered feedback, but I was so over it, I couldn't even be bothered to reply. Never felt so ignored by a startup before. I wouldn't even consider them again unless they completely revamp this process.

I found this Post Closing Specialist job on a job board and applied. A recruiter emailed me a few days later to set up a phone screening. The screening was supposed to be 30 minutes but only lasted about 10, and the recruiter seemed really eager to get off the phone. They even mentioned they were on speakerphone, which made me wonder if someone else was listening in. After that, I had a virtual interview with the hiring manager for the post closing team. They were nice and asked typical questions like why I was interested in Kiavi and my five-year goals. They also asked about my past jobs, and they said I answered well. It was a bit weird when the hiring manager shared a negative experience they had with a previous employer, especially since I didn't know that company. They then talked about how important transparency is within a team. I thought it was strange they focused on past employers, maybe trying to get me to talk badly about them, even though that wasn't the point of the interview. I ended up getting rejected even though my background seemed to fit what they were looking for. I tried to get feedback from the recruiter about why I was rejected, but I never heard back.

I applied and Brandon contacted me the same day. We set up a phone call for a few days later, which was followed by a 1-on-1 with a team lead. After that Friday call, Kellie reached out Monday morning to schedule the final round, which involved three 30-minute interviews with a 10-minute break between them. I got the interview schedule ahead of time and had a prep call with Brandon to discuss the format and ask questions. The interviews felt relaxed; I never felt like they were trying to trick me. Everyone seemed genuinely interested in learning about me and sharing about themselves and Kiavi. The whole process was straightforward, efficient, and quick.

A recruiter reached out to me after I applied, and we did a phone interview. We talked about the company, their work, the role, and a bit about my background. I liked that they were upfront about salary. Since it seemed like a good match, I then interviewed with the department manager. The next step was a panel interview with four people, including someone who would report to me. My recruiter gave me a prep call before this one. I also did a live tech test for the role. A few days later, I got and accepted an offer. It was a good experience, and I enjoyed meeting the team I'd be working with.