Lab49

Application

I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Lab49 (New York, NY) in July 2013.

Interview

Was initially contacted by an internal recruiter (not a head hunter) 10-15min screening to see if I was currently looking for a new job, if my background was generally a good fit, what my salary requirements were etc. This was followed by 2 phone interviews. The first one was fairly high level "tell me about some of the projects you're working on now" "how much experience do you have with Fixed income", etc. The 2nd phone interview was a bit more difficult. this was much more detailed in regard to what are the different charts or tools used to measure success\risk\budget on projects. After the 2 phone interviews they had me come in for a 4hr face to face interview. This interview was very interesting. They started out by telling me that they only hire 10% of the people who make it to this point. They also tell me that project managers rarely do very well with the exercise they were about to ask me to do. They gave me a list of different types of projects, and asked me to create a project, identify all the functional components, stakeholders, everything. Then detail how I would plan it, how I would deliver it, how I would mitigate risk, what my product backlog would look like, how I would manage expectations, etc etc. This was about a 2-3hr process. Though this was intense, it was really a GREAT way for them to see how I actually manage projects and for me to show my style, creativity, etc. After this process I spoke with the regional HR manager about the typical things like Comp, benefits, travel, etc. As a final measure, I was asked to come back in for a 4th round and meet with the COO and the head of North America Delivery as a 2 on 1 interview. This interview was clearly designed to apply stress and pressure to see how I would react when put in an uncomfortable position. Throughout the whole process it was constantly reiterated that Lab49's project managers would be facing off against very senior members of hedge funds and investment banks, and that being able to deal well with stress and pressure was key to this role.

I think it is important to note, that through this entire gauntlet of an interview process, everyone was very encouraging. It was clear that no one, at any time, was TRYING to trip me up. they WANTED me to do well, and they knew that their process was stressful. As soon as I realized this it helped tremendously. So if I didn't know the exact answer to a question, I would just walk them through how I might " measure risk" or " set the length of a sprint" even though there probably was a textbook correct\incorrect answer. They seemed happy with this approach.

Interview Questions

Negotiation

they told me up front, didn't really matter too much what I was making or what I was looking to make, they measured my experience, my background, and how well I did with the interviews and my comp would be in line with what others in the role they offered. When given the offer, I did say I had another offer on the table for the exact same amount, and they upped my base by 5K without me even asking for it. Truthfully, that extra $5K didn't matter from a monetary prospective, but was a major plus for me from an integrity prospective. Made me feel like my offer wasn't just the product of a cold calculation dropped into an excel sheet. Which is how I have felt at other places before.