I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Block (New York, NY) in Jul 2021
Interview
Product Manager (PM) Hiring process:
1. HR screening
2. Audio call with hiring manager
3. Virtual Onsite - four video interviews with team
4. Virtual Presentation - takes up to 8hrs to prep
5. Hiring Bar - final committee to review your candidacy
I made it to stage 3 while interviewing for a PM role on the Invoices team. I was really excited about Square and the process seemed good overall. I also thought the recruiter was fantastic and communicative throughout. BUT, I had one horrible experience during my interview process at Square. During my last interview, which happened to be the Analytical Interview with Data Science, the interviewer started to LAUGH in the middle of my interview. It was clear she was distracted throughout my interview as she was furiously typing on another screen and giggling. Mind you, I answered the case question correctly, but this was just throwing me off my game. Maybe her co-worker was sending her funny memes on Slack. I don’t know. Then she started cracking up laughing during the middle of my interview. That is SO UNPROFESSIONAL.
Also unsurprisingly, this was the same interviewer who cancelled & rescheduled my interview at the last minute.
Look, I work for a big company too. I invested a lot of time in interviewing at Square (2 weeks back and forth with recruiter and 2-3 days of heavy calls). All I expect in return is that Square conducts the interviews with a baseline of respect.
Interview questions [4]
Question 1
Technical Interview w/ Engineering
1. Tell me about yourself
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
3. Tell me about a time you worked with Engineering
4. Go into detail about how you approached a problem and involved the Engineering team
5. No, REALLY, give us some TECHNICAL details about how you worked with engineering ;)
Product Interview
1. Tell me about yourself, especially experience as PM
2. Tell me about a time you worked as a PM, or a problem you solved
3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
4. Case: What would you do if Jack walked in the door today and said we need to build “something for creatives”. What do we do?
Design Interview
1. Tell me about yourself
2. Tell me about a time you worked with Design
3. Go into detail about how you approached a problem and involved the Design team
Analytical Interview w/ Data Science
1. Tell me about yourself
2. Case: we are seeing low conversion rates from free trial to paid subscriptions on Square Appointments app. There is a hypothesis that “adding a personal touch” would help drive higher conversion. How could you test this hypothesis?
3. Case: 100 people get a call. 100 people don’t get a call. Of the 100 who get a call, 75 subscribe. Of the 100 who don’t get a call, 70 subscribe. One call costs $50. Should Square do calls? How would you determine this?
Besoin de trent mots minimum alors il me faut un peu de créativité. On me demande de donner des avis bidons pour pouvoir utiliser l'application... je comprends la motivation mais c'est absurde.
Standard product interview that consisted of the following:
Recruiter Screen
Hiring Manager Screen
4 interviews with Xfunc teams + product sense + analytics case
Final presentation
overall, was on the easier side out of interviews that I've done.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
There were Case questions.
Behavioral/Star Questions.
I was initially excited about the opportunity and appreciated progressing to the second round of interviews. However, after that point, communication with the recruiter became inconsistent. I was left unclear on whether the role was still open and, despite follow-ups, never received a clear update or closure.
