Stanford Federal Credit Union Interview Questions
& Process

I had a recruiter call first, then an interview with the hiring manager which was about a week later and had lots of routine questions. After that, there were two more interviews which included presentations with VPs and the Director.

So I had this really strange interview experience. It started with a recruiter call, which was great, and they laid out the interview steps. They said I'd talk to the hiring manager, then do an onsite if that went well. The job description mentioned needing to read Python code but not actually code. Anyway, a week later I interviewed with the hiring manager. He couldn't answer most of my questions, his answers were super vague, like one sentence each. Then he said another interview with him was coming up, and it would have a coding challenge. This was weird because the recruiter never said anything about a coding challenge, so it seemed like they weren't on the same page about the process. Another week passed, and I had that second interview with the hiring manager, the coding challenge one. During the coding part, the hiring manager kept accusing me of copying answers, even though he had no proof. I guess maybe he thought that because I had two screens open, one for the IDE and one for the video call? But he kept saying it, and it made me really uncomfortable. In a technical interview, I feel like the focus should be on the candidate's skills and how they solve problems. For a manager to accuse someone of copying without any basis just seems unprofessional, especially since I was actually trying to solve the problem. Feeling super uncomfortable with his attitude, I tried asking some basic questions about the role, like what they'd expect from someone in the first six months, and he just couldn't answer. I've been in this field for over 4 years and never had anything like this happen.

There were three interview rounds. The first round was a graphic design skills test where I had to create a mockup. The second round was with the hiring manager, and the third round was with the team. All interviews were conducted remotely, but this might change if Covid-19 restrictions are loosened.

I submitted my application online through the Stanford Federal Credit Union website. About two weeks later, the hiring manager reached out for a phone chat. Following that, I had three interviews: the first in-person with the hiring manager, the second in-person with the operations manager for residential lending, and the third and final one over Zoom with the VP of Lending. After these three, I got the job offer. Then came the background check, which was really thorough. They checked my references, contacted past employers, did a full credit check, and I had to explain any negative marks on my credit report. I had to provide documentation, like a police report, because my identity was stolen, confirming this with the credit bureaus. It was a lot, but it was worth it in the end.