Sidebench Interview Questions
& Process

So, after I was contacted by two recruiters, they set me up for an onsite interview just a couple of days later. I got to their coworking space in Culver City, and one of the recruiters met me there. He then introduced me to the HR person and left. The HR person seemed really nice, and we hit it off pretty quickly. They mentioned they were in urgent need of someone because their workload was increasing rapidly. We chatted for about forty minutes. The next day, the recruiter called and scheduled an interview for the end of the week with the team and potentially the CEO, who was apparently on vacation. But then, just two hours before the interview, they canceled and rescheduled it for the following week. I figured something important must have come up; that happens. So, the next week came, and the recruiter sent me the interview details. Just as I was about to head over to their office, the recruiter called again. He informed me that Sidebench was postponing their hiring process until January and thus canceling my interview. He seemed pretty upset. Apparently, this was the second or third time they had started a Product Manager hiring process, and they decided to push the hiring timeline back after bringing several qualified candidates into the process. They ended up ghosting me after I got back to them in January. It's okay if I wasn't a fit, but at least they could have been respectful to people who invested time to get to know them. The recruiters even stopped working with them because they didn't want their reputation damaged by Sidebench's unprofessional conduct, and I totally get that. They reposted the PM role in February. I reached out one last time a couple of weeks ago, and still nothing. I have no idea what they're doing, but it's incredibly unprofessional. It seems they ghosted me again after the new year.

The interview started with a phone screen where they asked about my recent experience, how I found the company, and my personal interests. Then, Sidebench sent over a "BD Coordinator Challenge" to check my communication and writing skills. After that, I had my first of two on-site interviews with the CEO, Kevin Yamazaki. It was pretty conversational, but we talked a lot about my sales process. The second on-site visit involved more traditional interviews with a few different people: a Senior Business Analyst, the Director of Sidebench Health, the Director of Technology, and a Product Manager. They mostly asked about my background, strengths, and weaknesses, and we also chatted to see if I'd fit in with the company culture.

The interview process included two rounds of interviews and an assessment where I had to analyze Sidebench's competitive position. It was a great experience overall; the interviewers were super friendly and made it feel like a casual, productive conversation over Skype.

First, I had some interviews with team members in the biz-dev department. After that, there was a two-step take-home assignment that I had to present during a call. Finally, I had a meeting with the CEO.