SurveyMonkey Product Designer Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was quick and they give you progress status every week. I appreciate those progress because at least you know where you stand when you do interviews. The HR was really friendly with great personality.

Throughout the whole process, I was kept in the loop, and they responded quickly to any of my questions or worries. They were also understanding when I couldn't call by phone and preferred Zoom instead. The first interview was a phone call where I was asked about my design tools and design thinking abilities. The second interview was with the manager, where my design skills were further explored, and I didn't show my portfolio. The following two interviews were back-to-back, and I spoke with two designers from the team. The first designer only asked me questions, while the second asked me to present a piece from my portfolio. After that, I had a call with the recruiter, where I was given the opportunity to ask any further clarifying questions.

The interview process was a joke. First, there was a short phone call with the recruiter. Then, a call with a design team member. This was followed by a design challenge, but the team didn't provide any feedback or even discuss my work. They didn't let me present it either. I'm questioning why SM puts Senior Product Designers through design challenges when a resume and portfolio should suffice. It's not a realistic representation of a designer's day-to-day which involves research, collaboration, and user interviews before iterating. Judging designers with a challenge isn't the right way to assess experience. The communication was slow, and I didn't get a chance to ask about benefits or anything. It was a one-sided process ending with a cold rejection call from the recruiter after a long wait. It wasted three weeks of my time, but I'm glad I didn't get the job and won't apply again.