I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Airbnb (San Francisco, CA) in Jan 2019
Interview
Disorganized recruiting process where every interviewer was late including the welcoming host. I had less than than expected 40 minutes to deep-dive on three required projects. The conference room was not set up for presentations, and looked like a living room where everyone including myself was facing a small screen, so it was impossible to make eye contact with the audience that was facing the same direction as you.
Something I noticed is that everyone, although smart and nice, seemed very stressed out, lost about the interview schedule, and disconnected from their colleagues. I didn’t get a positive, community vibe that I expected. What was interesting was that they do a panel interview and don’t tell you who is the hiring manager to try to eliminate bias, but it actually in the end created more bias because I found out later that the open position was with someone who had interviewed me for a different company in the past and who I didn’t jive with on methods. Very strange that who you’re interviewing with isn’t told to you until the day before in a several month-long process.
Despite this, the mission and product is strong. The recruiting process could use a lot of work and the culture that had been talked up wasn’t apparent. From the several 1:1s, your career experience will depend completely on who the hiring manager and whether that person will vouch for you to succeed. In my case, it was over before it began, but whatever the result had been I had major doubts about what my career satisfaction would be in a surprisingly chaotic environment.
I applied through college or university. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Airbnb (Providence, RI) in Jan 2020
Interview
3 interviews, one general and last two with special departments. Last one being really long, like 4 hours. Learnt a lot from the team, and made it to the last round.
1. Phone Screen
2. If you pass the phone screen there's 4 different phone and video calls with a portfolio review it can take up to a total of two hours all in one day