Outside Interview Questions
& Process

It was a standard virtual interview process, but everyone was super welcoming and encouraging. The HR team really wants you to succeed, and the vibe was casual and down to earth. I had a phone screen, then an interview with the hiring manager. After that, there was a take-home assignment, followed by three more interviews with the team and HR. The hiring manager actually reached out for a surprise second interview because we both felt we could have used more time to chat, which I really appreciated.

I applied by emailing the hiring editor the requested materials. They replied within a couple of weeks and asked me to do an extensive edit test (editing several stories, pitching contributors, pitching ideas, rating pitches, and more). I baulked a bit when I saw how much it entailed, but it was an exciting enough opportunity that I bit the bullet and spent most of the weekend doing the test. I didn't hear back for more than a month, and then just got a form rejection email with no comments on the 5 pages of work I sent them. I later saw they promoted internally for the position. I wish they would have done screener interviews before asking subjects to devote so much time coming up with ideas, and reserve the edit test for the top 2-3 candidates at most. It definitely turned me off from applying to future positions at the pub.

The interview started with a good recruiter call, they were super professional. Then I had a call with a senior product person who had only been there a short time. She seemed to be Googling generic questions and asking them without paying attention. I tried to talk about my projects, but she didn't ask follow-up questions and seemed clueless about product design. Later, I found out I didn't get the job. The recruiter told me the interviewer said I "hadn't worked in agile" and was a "system designer." This was weird because I've worked in agile for most of my career, and she never even asked me about it. She clearly wasn't listening. It was a ridiculous experience, and if this is what Outside does for senior product roles, they have issues.

The interview process was the longest I have experienced. I finished six interviews, and before the seventh interview, I was asked to do a take-home assessment using actual company scenarios and data. The total number of rounds was never clearly stated, so at each stage I thought the next interview would be the last. I decided to withdraw because the process was taking too much of my time and the assignment felt too much like unpaid consulting work that could directly benefit the business. I want to be clear, I withdrew because the company was demanding too much of my time and asking for unpaid work, not because I didn't get an offer. At some point, a process like this doesn't find the best candidate. It finds the candidate who is most willing or able to endure an excessive and inefficient hiring process.