Smartly Interview Questions
& Process

The process was pretty well structured, they communicated things well and transparently. I went through 4 interviews in total, and it took about 2 weeks from start to finish before they made a decision. Most of the questions were about situational use cases, asking how I would act in certain circumstances. Your previous experience really seemed to matter a lot in how they viewed you.

It was a tough and long interview process, but it felt fair. You get to interact with a great team, so it's worth going through all the steps. There was a screening by the recruiter, then the hiring manager, followed by a meeting with the team, a platform demo, and finally a one-on-one with the regional manager.

I applied for the Smartly Launchpad Product Designer position, which is an entry-level program. Even though I have a few years of industry experience, I targeted this program because I met the requirements for hands-on experience and a recent degree. The interview process was pretty fast, professional, and organized. It usually went like this: Recruiter interview, then a design challenge, and finally, one or more interviews with the hiring team or manager. The main issue was that the program's description didn't match the actual hiring criteria. It said it was for recent grads and not for people with 'several years of full-time industry experience,' but I got an interview because I'm switching industries. Then, the rejection feedback said they were looking for people with 'more end-to-end ownership of product outcomes,' which wasn't defined anywhere or mentioned in the job description.

The interview process wasn't very considerate of the candidate's time. While the recruiter was responsive, they sometimes scheduled or rescheduled interviews without checking if the new times worked. They seemed to rush the process for their own benefit, disregarding the candidate's plans. The candidate was rushed to deliver a presentation without a clear reason, only for there to be no updates for weeks afterward, making the rush seem unnecessary. The final stage was a valuable learning experience with good feedback, but it was overly demanding. The brief suggested a 2-3 hour completion time, but the presentation scope required significant research, potentially taking a full day. The combination of a tight deadline and the recruiter's haste felt like a setup for failure. The candidate expected a survey link to provide feedback on their experience but never received it. It's unfortunate because the company seems to have great people, but they should avoid rushing candidates if they can't provide updates just as quickly.