I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Meta
Interview
FB's product manager interview is really a hit or miss process. They basically ask you to go through multiple rounds of leadership, product sense, and analytics-based interviews, which seems fair, but the reality is that if you screw up on one small area, you get disqualified. So overall the process optimizes for people who thinks fast on their feet over the substance of the answer. While I don't disagree with the fact that there are a lot of good PMs who are like that, there are also a second breed of PMs who are more analytical and can offer much better solutions (especially product sense) if they are given the chance to research and analyze the problem. Asking me how to measure whether to autoplay videos and expect me to get ALL the metrics is not an accurate measure of my execution or analytic aptitude.
Beyond the basic metrics, there are a lot of intuition, strategy, and peeling the onions that need to happen.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How should you decide whether to autoplay videos on the newsfeed? What success metrics?
I was contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn, we scheduled a call. She didn't show up to the first call, apologized and rescheduled with me soon after. The rescheduled call came around and I was left hanging.
Moral of this story: Apply to Facebook directly, if anyone is attempting to source you via LinkedIn this probably will not work out.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Meta in Mar 2020
Interview
I had an initial phone screen with a recruiter for product teams across the US. She gave me a very thorough overview of what their interview process involves, the format, who conducts the interviews, and how to prepare. She also reviewed their hiring tracks and locations.
Interviews are conducted without a specific role or location in mind. If a candidate passes all of the product interviews and ‘loops’ then they can move forward with getting placed.
There were two 45 minute ‘loops’ that were conducted over video on bluejeans. One for product sense (solution creativity) and one for product execution (measurable outcomes). Each one has an example problem presented that the interviewer prompts, and the candidate then responds with whiteboard, thinking out loud, and provides reasoning for why they are making each specific product decision.