Extremely lengthy interview process (3 months from initial application to final interview). Somewhat disorganized process since HR staff didn't seem to know the status of new office openings and which positions were filled/open.
I interviewed for the GM position for a market they intended to enter (Minneapolis). I have almost 20 years of experience owning/operating a very similar business (flipping properties) in this market that I scaled nationally.
I had 5 phone interviews - 2 with HR, 3 with operations/management.
The 3 operations interviews:
-Interviewer #1 (names/titles cannot be revealed on Glassdoor)
Case Study Style Interview on Analytics
Interviewer #1 seemed to have solid experience in real estate and a good understanding of the challenges/realities of Opendoor's model. He was very open to, and even asked for, feedback about their business model based on my experience in the industry. He was very professional, engaging, quick, and asked very intelligent questions.
-Interviewer #2 (names/titles cannot be revealed on Glassdoor)
Case Study Style Interview on People Management
Interviewer #2 asked highly relevant questions related to people management. He was open to feedback about their business model. He was very professional, a good people-guy, and seemed very sharp.
-Interviewer #3 (names/titles cannot be revealed on Glassdoor)
Case Study Style Interview on Operations
Interviewer #3 is an attorney by trade/training and works in operations. I didn't really understand how that made any sense. She called me 15 minutes late for a phone interview - not a huge deal and she was very apologetic and nice about it. However, to me it reflects poorly on someone who runs operations to be late for anything. She also had an accent and spoke on a speakerphone, which made it very difficult for me to understand her. It made for some very awkward moments when I had to repeatedly ask her to repeat the question. I asked her some pretty basic operational questions that confused her and she needed clarification. I don't think she had any front-lines real estate experience, just startup type stuff. She was also somewhat defensive at times (not taking feedback well about their business model, and certain aspects of their operations approach). Overall, it wasn't a very engaging interview. After the interview, I researched her online and looked at her social media accounts. She did not appear to me as someone appropriate for the role of operations at a national real estate company.
After doing fairly extensive research on the company, I also learned that most of the employees had no prior experience in real estate, which I found very strange for a real estate company trying to execute a highly-risky national model. Oddly, their job posting for General Manager actually seeks someone with a B.S. in Engineering or Economics. As someone who has been in the real estate space for almost 20 years, I'm not sure how either of those degrees would be particularly useful as a General Manager.
The people at Opendoor also seemed quite young, another factor that I believe will be a challenge for them given the complexity/risky nature of real estate and Opendoor's business model.
I think Opendoor needs to rethink some of the people they are putting into critical management roles. Otherwise, its investors will not see a profit for a long time. Opendoor is attempting to execute a model which requires GM's who have actual real estate buying/selling experience, have experienced the ups and downs of the market, have experienced the risks of being a holder of property (as opposed to a broker), and have the maturity to make intelligent buys in a rapidly/constantly changing industry that requires nimbleness/pivoting. MBAs and data science will only get you so far in real estate. And while data science is extremely important and can be leveraged very intelligently in real estate, that's only half the battle. They also need to focus on a litany of other things - they seem to be learning those things right now as evidenced by some of their operational issues.
Lastly, to some extent it also seemed like the intention of the interviews was not for them to hire people, but more so to get insight from local/industry experts on operational problems they were experiencing. It was almost like they viewed their interviews as free focus groups. By the second or third interview, I questioned; 1) whether they even intended to enter the markets they were interviewing for, 2) how long it would take them to get up and running in a new market (they seemed very disorganized), and 3) their chances of survival in that new market once they entered it (based on the issues they shared and my experience in the industry).