Facebook solicited me via LinkedIn. In 9 weeks, I had phone screen with recruiter, phone screen with a Design Director, VC Portfolio review with a different Design Director, and an onsite at Headquarters at Menlo Park (I am from Seattle). The onsite interview consisted of the following parts: 30 minute presentation, 1-1 whiteboard session on execution, 1-1 management review, 1-1 with would-be boss, 1-1 cross-functional collaboration experience / methodology, 1-1 casual lunch on campus, 1-1 mobile app critique, recap with recruiter.
The presentation instructions were to walk through two products that you oversaw that have since launched. Showcase your product design thinking, design decisions you made, product evolution, process, execution, interaction design, visual design, results. First of all that is A LOT of content to work through for two products in 30 minutes. I had content that could easily cover an hour for just one product. I successfully shaped my presentation to 30 minutes - which also included a two sentence thank you and introduction to myself and then another few statements about the products I would share for needed context. According to the interview line-up I received, this was my one and only shot to show my work. I ended up not getting the job with reasons that my interaction design and visual design were lacking. That was disheartening as I had a ton of examples that I did not share due to time constraints.
The interviewers were pleasant and asked good, direct, and fair questions. I never felt tricked or surprised. A few other points that may be helpful.
1. The interviews before the onsite and during the onsite only included 2 members of the team I would be working with. I was expecting this, but I gotta say I’m not a fan. An interview goes both ways. I really wanted to meet my would-be boss and ask him some questions about his style of management, his expectations on the role, etc. Well, I only got 30 minutes with him and he wasn’t there. In fact, half the interviewers were over video conference (including the two on the team that the position would be working with). In 30 minutes, I only got a couple of questions in before the next session.
2. The presentation was in a small conference room set up with two monitors and a camera up front. It was awkward to present to 3 people in the room with my back to the camera. I stepped to the side but struggled to engage with those on the camera. I recommended they get an interview room where the camera is on the opposite side of the room from the monitors.
3. The execution whiteboard session never happened. I was bummed about that as I was ultra-prepared. Instead the interview asked to go deeper into the work I presented and other work. I thankfully had an appendix with additional content, but I was not prepared for this and honestly, I should have been. It may have been the difference to the decision as I could have used the time to go deeper into interactive design and visual design.
4. I never received a job description. At one point they said it was a director position ("manager of managers" and another said it was a manager position. One interviewer asked me a specific question about the job and I told him I had no clue. They did share what organization it was, but even though I asked, I had no tangible job description.
