Optoro Interview Questions
& Process

This was a super long interview process. It started with a recruiter call, then a call with two team members. After that, I had two more interviews with the VP and the hiring manager. Then, I had to do a presentation for the whole team, followed by an interview with the associates. It felt like they might have been looking for management experience, which I told them upfront I didn't have. They required me to come to the office for the interview, and I flew in for it. However, the hiring manager called into the presentation remotely and wasn't even in the office for my in-person interview. The presentation itself took a lot of time. Observing the office, it's clear the company really lacks diversity. It appears that the female-dominated teams like CS, Marketing, and PM are required to come into the office, while other teams are not. The office is located in inner-city DC, so I wouldn't recommend applying unless you already live there. Also, it seems like the CSMs are doing most of the heavy lifting for the software because the product team and roadmap don't appear to address customer needs. If you're a CSM who wants to avoid dealing with a lot of customer complaints and a stale product, you should probably look somewhere else.

I interviewed back in August 2022 and went through 6 interviews over about 3 weeks. It included interviews with the hiring manager, a co-worker, the VP of sales, the CPO, a presentation to the Director of Brand Marketing, and finally the co-founder. I spent about 7-8 hours on the whole process, including working on the presentation. About 2 days after my last interview, I got a quick 2-minute call saying I didn't get the job, with no explanation. I think I know why, though, based on my experience and other reviews. The job was basically what I do now, and Optoro is in the same industry as my previous company. They required at least 1-2 years of experience, and I had direct experience for the role and industry. The hiring manager was really interested in my background and even tried to speed things up because I had other offers. I felt really good about my chances in every round and liked everyone I'd be working with, assuming they felt the same since I kept moving forward. The final interview was with the co-founder, scheduled for 30 minutes. He was 10 minutes late and the interview only lasted about 12-15 minutes. He seemed completely uninterested from the start - he was late, didn't apologize, gave no response or tone, had bad body language, and even pulled out his phone. Usually, meeting the founder at this stage is just a formality, not another screening. He asked standard questions to see if I had the skills and experience but didn't seem engaged with my answers. He also asked when I graduated, said it was a red flag that I'm looking for a new job after only a year at my current company, and asked if I'd stay for 3-5+ years even if the company struggled, and why I'd even say that. (For context, I'm leaving a struggling startup after only a year, which is why I'm job hunting. It seems odd for the company to ask if a candidate would stick around if things went bad.) I had a lot of issues with this last interview. If they were still unsure if I could do the job, I shouldn't have gotten that far. If the co-founder is the main decision-maker, he should be the first person you talk to, not the last. He's an innovator who succeeded right out of college and probably hasn't experienced the job market himself, so he shouldn't be so quick to judge based on graduation year or leaving a failing company after a year, especially when the job only required 1-2 years of experience. My advice to the team is to trust your own judgment about what you need, since you know your team better than the co-founder does. My advice to the company is to stop wasting everyone's time by moving forward candidates who aren't a good fit, as it seems like you're not growing based on feedback. My advice to future candidates is to reconsider interviewing here. The co-founder has too much influence, and they might try to get you to stay with the process by dangling an offer without giving specific salary or benefit details, so know your worth.

I applied via an employee referral before Thanksgiving and got contacted shortly after the break for an initial HR phone screen. The next step was a second phone screen with the head of the department, which was scheduled for the following week. I also had to complete a formal job application with my recent work history and references. After passing the phone interviews, I came in the next day for seven 1-on-1 interviews with the CFO, Director of Finance, General Manager/Operations, two Finance/Accounting members, the CEO, and HR. Everyone was really nice and easy to talk to. We discussed why I was interested in Optoro, what the company does, and my reasons for wanting a career change. The CEO seemed genuinely passionate about the company and its mission, which was great to see. They also requested an Excel/PowerPoint work sample, due 72 hours after the second interview, but due to timing, it ended up being 48 hours after the in-person interviews. The work sample was a bit challenging because the instructions weren't very clear. The recruiter called me personally to inform me that I didn't get the job, explaining that the other candidate had more relevant experience. I actually met that person during an interview switch, and she seemed great with a similar background (Big4). I would consider applying again for this or other roles at the company. Overall, it was a very positive experience.

I applied online and the HR contact got back to me about a week later. First, I had a phone interview with HR, and then about four days after that, I had a phone interview with the direct supervisor. After those calls, the HR contact mentioned the supervisor wanted to schedule a second in-person interview and would be in touch about when. But then I never heard from HR again. I tried reaching out multiple times via email and phone calls, hoping to talk to someone about setting up that in-person interview. Nobody ever got back to me. I was really hoping for a chance to work at Optoro, but this whole experience really put me off. Even a short email or voicemail back would have been nice.