I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Meta (Menlo Park, CA) in May 2014
Interview
The process was pleasant and everyone was very nice and smart. I had a phone interview, a week went by and I had a second. Three weeks then passed so I emailed the recruiter and an onsite was scheduled.
1st Phone Interview: Product Sense, questions about how I would solve a hypothetical problem. For example, if FB wanted to build a new recruiting tool, how would I go about testing my hypothesis and verifying my problem identification and solution.
2nd Phone Interview: This one was termed "Execution", which I interpreted as assigning values to features and the process I would go through to vet a feature's or product's value. Turned out it was all about analytics and metrics: "How would you decide whether to show a friend suggestion in the FB news feed every ten feed items versus an advertisement?" "What are the trade-offs etc?" A lot of the interview focused on relative trade-offs and comparisons. I felt I did really badly but then got the onsite and final round invite.
Onsite/Final Round: First interview focused again on Product Sense - "how would I change the news feed?", "what new feature would I build?". The second interview focused on leadership, "tell me about a time_____", and was designed to assess my ability to influence people and inspire. The third interview was back to Execution. I was asked to point out UI changes in the current app and use the whiteboard to graph examples of how metrics I would roll out of bed and want to look at would look.
Overall, the experience was positive though the process was extremely lengthy considering there was no offer. After my final interview I was told I'd know within three days. Two weeks went by so I called and left the recruiter a voice-mail. Another week and a half went by so I emailed and finally got the "thanks but no thanks" (though worded very nicely and appropriately).
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They're really looking for a "package deal" so no one question stood out as being really difficult. It's very important to ask clarifying questions if you don't understand something. I made the mistake of making assumptions that weren't justified and should have been more assertive in asking for more information or for clarification.
The process began with an initial recruiter phone screen focused on my background, product experience, and interest in Meta. This was followed by a series of virtual interviews covering product sense, analytical thinking, execution, and behavioral questions. Interviewers asked me to work through product design scenarios, discuss how I would prioritize competing opportunities, define success metrics, and describe examples of cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management.
The final round consisted of multiple back-to-back interviews with product managers and cross-functional partners. Overall, the process was structured, professional, and challenging. The interviewers were engaged and provided clear expectations for each interview.
Interview process was fairly straightforward. Recruiters are super helpful in getting you prepared for whats to come. Interviews got scheduled fairly fast, so having the momentum is great. Each interview only lasted about 30 minutes. from start to finish it took about 1 month
A multi-stage interview process that typically includes screening, technical and/or case assessments, and conversations with different stakeholders to evaluate both your skills and how well you’d work with the team and the role.