Origin Financial Product Manager Interview Questions
& Process

Origin reached out about a PM role. The process involved a recruiter screen, an interview with the hiring manager, and then a home assignment. After the home assignment, I had a presentation scheduled with the team. However, this presentation interview was canceled on the same day it was supposed to happen because they said the position was already filled. It was frustrating to invest time and effort into this.

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.

First, I had a quick chat with the recruiter. Then, I was given a take-home assignment that took about 10 hours. A week later, I got an email saying I wasn't a good fit, which was weird since nothing about me changed.