Origin Financial Interview Questions
& Process

After applying, I got a call from the recruiter to schedule the first interview, but they didn't mention I'd be meeting with an advisor. The advisor was super nice and engaging, but that's where the good parts ended. The next interview was supposed to be a "cultural interview" focused on my career and motivations, but the interviewer just kept quizzing me. They'd ask a question and clearly wait for me to finish so they could ask the next one, which felt pretty awkward and like they weren't interested in my answers. I think "cultural interviews" should be used as intended and described to candidates.

Overall, a very thorough process that lasted over a month with 6 rounds including a 2 hour review of resume. I appreciated the team members organization and everyone seemed very friendly. The final round was a little disorganized and the interviewee didn't seem to have an understanding of the timeline or about much of the position. The only disappointment was that I was given a very generic rejection e-mail after completing 6 rounds and spending countless hours during the process. I said that I completely understood that they were going in a different direction but asked if they could provide some sort of feedback and was responded back to "we aren't providing additional feedback". I have never seen that in any position that I have interviewed with and find it pretty disrespectful to a candidate that has dedicated so much time to interviewing for their company.

They really took the time to see if I was a good fit with the team by doing this sort of career reflection where we went through my 3 most recent jobs. We talked about the successes, the failures, and my best parts, plus my reasons for leaving. It was different but really worthwhile, helping me think about my career growth and my own value. Also, I got to meet a lot with the leadership team, not just my direct manager. This was huge for me because it showed that even people way above me care about who they hire. The whole team was really into it, helpful, and nice, it was genuinely a great experience.

I talked to Origin for a Senior Product Manager role, and honestly, I should've listened to the Glassdoor reviews about their Product interviews. The whole process made me wonder if they even know what they want or are serious about hiring. The phone screen was 21 minutes; 15 of that was the interviewer just talking about the company and defining what a PM is, like reading from a script. Then, about 3-4 minutes for brief questions on my salary needs, how I use data and client input for product choices, and stuff like that. They didn't really ask anything substantial about my background. The last few minutes were for my questions, but the screener couldn't answer any, which was weird. I left not knowing what they were even looking for since I didn't get to talk about myself. The take-home assignment asked me to pick a software product I like and deep-dive into why it's good, its top features, its value, how it measures success, and suggest MVP improvements. I've done similar case prompts before, but never as pre-work. These open-ended product sense questions usually need back-and-forth with the interviewer to set scope and assumptions, which you can't do with pre-work. For example, what 'top' features are or why something is valuable can differ based on user segments. Product changes should align with problems and business goals, and an interviewer helps guide that and shows how you think. Making it written work forces you to make broad assumptions, like using yourself as the user or spending way more time than it's worth. I figured it was to prep for the next conversation, but I was rejected after submitting, so that wasn't it. Like the phone screen, I'm still unsure what they were assessing with the assignment. They should change it to fit the job better, maybe define the problem space, provide guiding data, or give a time estimate so candidates know what's expected.