Here’s a not so brief summary of all the interview stages I went through and some tips to help you with yours.
1- A 30-minutes call with a recruiter to understand more about you and why you're interested in joining Uber. S/he will then explain the role, the team and the interview process. Your recruiter will also call you before each interview stage and tell you what you can expect.
2- A 2-hour analytical test - There are tons of resources online and so many people have even created paid courses to cover this test. Here are a few things I did that might help you:
- Figure out what tool you’re most comfortable with. I personally use Google sheets far more than excel, so I imported the CSV files into my already prepared Google sheet.
- Every minute counts so do whatever you can before the test to save time during the test. I had pre-prepped my Google sheet with 12 tabs. Two main empty data tabs for the two CSV files and 5 pivot table tabs for each main file, so once the data was in, all you had to do was play around with your pivot table.
- Stay organised. The test often jumps back to previous questions and answers. So make a tab for each question and leave it. For sorting/filtering questions, add a column or a row for each question to the main tab and leave it there. You will use it again.
- You have to know Uber’s business model and their terminologies very well. There are a lot of great videos/resources online - read as much as you need until you completely understand it.
- If you don’t come from a marketing/content writing background, practice writing and just get comfortable with it - writing promotional emails, explaining your ideas etc. You can add fluff, but your content has to include some ideas and value propositions.
- Lastly, leave room for error. If you get stuck on a question and it just doesn’t come to you naturally, move on. I remember getting stuck and going blank on one very simple logical question and couldn’t let it go, mostly because my ego wouldn’t let me leave it unanswered. Don’t do what I did. Move on!
3- Interview with hiring manager - This interview should be with your direct manager. I was actually really surprised and caught off-guard by how real it was. No hidden agenda, no trick questions, no trying to read between the lines. It was just a very real conversation, where the hiring manager wanted to get to know me, understand my experience and what led to me this interview.
4- Case-Study - After the interview with the hiring manager, you’d receive a 1-2 page brief for the case study. I wasn’t given a deadline so I gave one to myself and told them when I would send it by.
- This is a real scenario and something they've worked on. Be true to yourself and your capabilities, but try your hardest. It’s ok if you don’t get much sleep for a night or two.
- Obviously, you don’t have to put all your content on the presentation, just bullet points and guidelines to tell the story. Keep your content written down on notes, for when you're presenting.
- You'll then have to present it to a panel (probably the hiring manager and a few members of the team you'd be working with). You only have 45 minutes to present the case-study so make sure you practice it. You’ll be asked a lot of questions during the presentation, which is only natural so be ready to jump back into it, not losing your train of thoughts. Practice, practice, practice.
- I’m sure you all know but with case studies, there’s no right or wrong answer. They want to understand your thought process, problem-solving capabilities and of course stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
- If you have time and if the design is important to you, look at Uber brand guidelines online (there are many sources) and try to take inspiration from them (font styles, colours, spaces, illustrations, etc). There are press sources as well, where you can download original marketing images to use in your presentation.
5- Interviews - I had two more interviews, one with the head of another vertical and one with another one of my teammates. They each covered the basics of why I’m interested in the role, gauged my commitment and passion and then focused on a specific set of skills, scenarios and examples from my work experience.
Although relatively long, you'll get to meet and speak with many people at Uber, people who’ve just joined or who have been there for years. Each interview is a chance for you to ask questions and earn more about Uber and honestly, that’s what I loved the most, as they all gave me very direct, unfiltered and unscripted responses, which is very rare these days.
Hope this helps. Best of luck.