YouGov Data Scientist Interview Questions
& Process

I applied through cord. The initial chat was nice, informal and chilled out. They told me about the role and the interview. Two employees were there. They asked about me and my past experience. Then came some real-life questions like how I deal with crisis or what I do if I mess up big time at work. After that, they asked technical questions about data science and stats, like what p-value and confidence intervals mean, assumptions of linear regression, difference between causality and correlation, and what exploratory data analysis is. The final step was a practical exercise where I got two datasets and tasks to do using a data processing language like Python. The tasks were not clearly written, I had to reread them. It felt like a lot for an interview, quite intense, but the interviewers were nice. They said they'd give feedback but I emailed the hiring person 3 times and got no reply, totally ghosted. Very unprofessional.

The interview process had 2 stages. First, a short 10-15 minute chat with someone from talent, who was super nice. The questions felt pretty random and hard to prep for, so I just tried to stay cool and take my time. Then, there was another interview, longer this time (20-30 minutes), with a senior data scientist. This one was more technical, covering my CV and past data science projects. They asked about my proudest work and why, and I had to explain my reasoning, so definitely think about that. The whole application was easy and they kept me in the loop.

The interview process started off pretty good, with genuine initial chats. But things went downhill in the second round. The interviewer seemed unprepared and admitted to skimming my resume, which was a bad sign. The discussion was all over the place and unclear about what they were assessing. We talked about many things for about an hour, and then in the last two minutes, they mentioned that specific deep data integrity experience was a requirement. It was confusing why I even got to the second round if that was the case. It felt like a waste of time, especially since I have related experience and am eager to learn in technical areas with clear guidance. To make it worse, I followed up with the recruiter about another role that seemed like a better fit and reiterated my interest in the company. I heard nothing back, just an automated rejection on Monday. I understand not everyone is a fit, but this disorganized, unprepared, and non-communicative process isn't a good look for the company's hiring. It's discouraging for experienced people when interviewers don't seem to put in thoughtful effort or reciprocate. If you're going to interview candidates, please be ready, be clear about what you need, and show basic respect and follow-up. It really matters.