Made it past a first round PM interview and received this assessment as stage two. Am I crazy or is this ridiculous?

#1 Can you design and integrate a wallet into XYZ which enables its user and customers to pay monthly bills?

Yes.

#2 Suggest a new payment platform which can seamlessly integrate into the XYZ’s CRM –can you build a simple high-level platform?

Stripe. Yes, I can.

#3 Can you suggest web-accessibility features for disabled to integrate into the XYZ platform and how would you design it

Yes.

#4 Can you explore the XYZ platform and list the features which you a) Dislike b) Needs improvement c) An absolute No; Design few mocks with your suggestions.

Yes, yes, I can.

#5 Can you list the metrics you would like to look at as a Product Manager to continuously improve the XYZ platform –Suggest the Business Intelligence metrics, tools and the data points that should be considered.

Yes, I can do that. I would consider intelligence metrics that align perfectly with the business strategy.

#6 As a product manager if you would like to define user roles / change privacy settings for the XYZ App in a B-B-C setting (which is the current business model) how would you do that. Please share flow charts, mocks etc. to illustrate.

I would do research.

#7 What is your favorite SAAS company? Can you create a mockup of an ideal SAAS platform MVP?

Salesforce, yes, I can.

Whew, I did it. :grin:

But seriously, this is absurd.

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I’d hire you based just on this post. Seriously…

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No shame in walking away from companies with terrible take home assignments. If their hiring process is this out of phase with reality, then imagine actually working there!

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Regarding #6: I think they really mean B-B-C as their business model, meaning business-to-business-to-consumer. In the model you work together with another business to then sell to the consumer. I would say that if my company buys ads on Google to increase the sales consumers place with us, this would be B-B-C.

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It’s possible. I was in a rage and didn’t even think that far. In my initial conversation, there was a lot of “B2C” questioning, which is why it was in my mind.

I think they meant B2B2C, but I also think someone who is less familiar with the nuts and bolts of PM work might have written this.

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There has been a fairly big increase of people applying to PM roles.

  1. It is a desirable job and people want to get in on this.
  2. Lack of jobs bring a lot more people to the doorsteps of this job role.

This is the convenient way to filter out the unqualified for the company. Although of course, it may be possible to skip over a great candidate when someone else simply made a better presentation.

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@NaomiNwosu, I understand why assessments exist. Almost everyone I’ve ever received was reasonable and well thought out. I’ve even had a couple that were actually fun exercises. I’m saying this one is particularly awful.

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No you’re not going crazy. Tech interviews in general, especially in Silicon Valley, are ridiculous. I once had a similar assessment (3 questions) prior to even the first round phone interview (no joke). Didn’t bother with that.

It’s not uncommon for 2nd rounds (even before the onsite) to have some bs assessment as well. I’ve also done final round onsites where it was 2 days. Might as well just start your own business instead of dealing with all this bs recruiting process.

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