I applied online. I interviewed at Rival Inc (Playa Vista, CA) in Jan 2019
Interview
After working initially with a very nice internal recruiter, I had several phone and video interviews with various stakeholders at the company. All seemed to have gone well with no red flags, and I was asked to produce an at-home design exercise. Shortly after presenting the design exercise, I was told the team was very impressed and was invited to come meet the team in Playa Vista as a final step.
The following day after accepting the invitation I was informed that a) the visit would actually be an all-day group interview, and b) the role I was interviewing for was switched to a Senior Product Designer due to changing needs. On the day of the interviews all seemed to be going well until after lunch when instead of meeting with the next group, the recruiter came in the room and told me very nicely that while I would be a great "cultural fit", the team had decided to end the interview process and send me home immediately. When asked for a reason I was told that I was missing a specific piece of relatively minor experience – something that surely should have been caught with a cursory glance at my CV, or one of the many conversations we already had. It was extremely embarrassing and unprofessional, and I expect would be representative of how they treat staff.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I was asked to design a theoretical lifestyle app as the design exercise.
Applied and was contacted by a recruiter. Recruiter was awesome in the beginning, very personable and prompt. Talked with the recruiter, there was a test that was sent to be completed within 24 hours. Test was limited to 1hr, write a test plan and answer a few questions. After completing the test he followed up with me the next day to schedule a time with me to talk to the Senior Staff QA.
The discussion with the Senior QA was very dry and unfortunately lacked enthusiasm on their side. There was another person on the call too, which was not previously mentioned, so they had me on speaker which made it very hard for me to hear all of their questions/responses. At the very end, I asked if there were any concerns about my qualifications for the position and both of the responses were that there was no concerns. I heard nothing back after 3 days, followed up with the recruiter and he said that they decided I wasn't a good fit, despite being told on the phone there were no concerns. Even worse, had I not followed up with the recruiter, I probably would have not have heard back. I was really excited for this opportunity and was gassed up by the recruiter who didn't provide any additional feedback as to why they decided against me. For group interviews, it really is better to have those in person. The surprise guest on the call made the whole process more frustrating and disappointing.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you troubleshoot a bug report that was sent with little to no information, other than the problem?
