NerdWallet Interview Questions
& Process

The hiring process was very fast. I had a 30-minute call with the recruiter about basic sales leadership skills, then a 45-minute call with the Head of Sales for a more in-depth discussion, followed by a 1.5-hour back-to-back panel interview with several department heads, and then a final check-in with the recruiter on the same day. I got good feedback throughout. Two business days later, I got a generic rejection email saying they chose other candidates. This was surprising since a recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn right when the job opened and I scheduled the earliest possible time to meet everyone. The whole process from the initial message to the end took less than two weeks. It turns out the job was posted again and the recruiter posted about needing to fill the position on her LinkedIn. I find it unprofessional to not provide honest feedback and then falsely claim they are moving forward with other candidates when the job is still open weeks later. It felt deceptive and a waste of my time and effort.

I was encouraged to apply for this Staff Software Engineer role by the hiring manager. After an initial chat, I did a CoderPad challenge with Leetcode-style problems, which felt like gatekeeping. Then, I had interviews with the team lead and two engineers. The team lead was helpful and even gave me prep advice. I felt I did really well in these interviews, with one interviewer noting I did "amazingly well." The recruiter said they were waiting for final feedback, and it seemed like an offer was coming. However, I received a generic rejection saying they chose a more qualified candidate, claiming the roles were competitive. A short time later, I saw the exact same job reposted, with no updates on LinkedIn. This experience felt like the company was just going through the motions for a role that might not have been real, which was emotionally taxing. Candidates deserve transparency.

The interview process is tough. It feels like if you have neurodiversity or think you might, you're set up to fail. What they asked me to prep versus how the interview was actually structured made it super hard to move forward. This meant all the prep I did for my second interview was useless. They also scheduled my second interview without asking for my availability – they sent an email at 3am and had it booked by the time I got online. This was an early sign that maybe this isn't the best place if you care about work/life balance.

So the interview process started with a recruiter screen with Dee. Even though my resume wasn't exactly what she was looking for, she gave me a chance to talk about my experience and even let me redo my resume before passing it on. After that, I had a written assessment to complete, which was pretty straightforward and didn't take too long. I even got feedback on it afterwards, which was cool. Then there was a 1-on-1 with the hiring manager, and after that, a longer interview with the hiring manager, a Senior Manager, and someone from another department. Even with everyone's busy schedules, it all went really smoothly, and everyone was on time and really nice. Dee was super helpful the whole time, giving me tips and letting me know what to expect. I got the job offer and I'm super excited to start!