P2 Energy Solutions Interview Questions
& Process

I was contacted by phone and then sent a consent form for an online assessment, which I signed and faxed back. This assessment was called 'Hire True' or something similar. Despite my extensive Fortune 300 experience, advanced degree, and high IQ, having been out of undergrad for nearly 20 years, I struggled with the math word problems on the P2's mini-SAT. After spending over two grueling hours on it, I received an automated rejection two days later on a Saturday. I suspect the algorithm didn't favor me. While it was my decision to spend the time, I don't think it's appropriate to ask people to donate two hours to a machine at the beginning of the interview process. Rejection is fine, but algorithmic auto-rejection after donating two hours to a machine isn't a good feeling. Ultimately, I was glad to be rejected, as the experience revealed something about P2's perspective on personnel value and people skills.

We kicked things off with an online assessment test that took about two hours. If you passed that, they called you in for an in-person interview. It was a group setting with 4 candidates (for different jobs) in a conference room. They started with a general overview of the day and a schedule. Then, each of us met with three people: one from HR, one from Customer Service, and one from Engineering. They asked us behavioral questions like 'tell me about when you...', 'how did you handle...', and 'what would you do if.../give me an example'. These chats were about 20-30 minutes each. After that, we were given a topic to research as a group, prepare a presentation, and then present it to two directors/managers. The directors/managers asked follow-up questions about our presentation, especially if we missed some points. Lastly, we had to take a shorter version of the initial online test. The whole thing lasted 5 hours, not including travel.

I have half a mind to send a bill to these folks for all of my time and effort spent on what would turn out to be a pretty silent affair. The interview process would almost lead me to believe I was about to uncover some mystery after I was stationed in a mountain range prepping for my latest mission. First you have to take a assessment test. 2 full hours of patterns, word association, and math problems. Easy, but insanely time consuming. Next comes the phone interview. Pretty standard from what I can tell. The real interview was alright from an experience standpoint, but it still leaves a slightly foul taste in my mouth. You could tell these folks had never done this before. The whole process was disjointed and haphazard. In the end, all the associates were friendly though. The real problem comes with communication. It is disgusting that I haven't heard back from this company. Just like a previous review already mentioned, the employer really needs to respect how much time they are asking the applicants to invest in simply one job opportunity. It isn't hard to send a simple email with a "there was someone more qualified than you...blah blah blah" response. It is an employer marketplace, and boy does P2 ever make you jump through the hoops to prove that very fact. So, back to that bill. Do I simply charge minimum wage, or should I also factor in the opportunity cost of the excess amount of time spent with P2 and tack on at least two interviews with major firms in the area as well? The simple answer will be, unsurprisingly, crickets.

Got an email from recruiting to set up a thirty minute phone call for the next week. It was about my resume and skills. Right after, got links for two tests, personality and cognitive, due in a week. Next week, recruiting emailed again to set up an in-person interview for later that week. First, I talked with the manager for 30 mins about my job experience and how I fit. Then, two principal software engineers joined to see if I'd be a good fit for the team.