I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Smartly (Helsinki, Southern Finland) in May 2019
Interview
Intense recruitment process lasting 3-4 weeks. Consists of five stages and despite the lengthiness, all stages naturally follow and flow into each other. The interviews are more meant to test your ability to learn fast instead of your existing knowledge.
The process gives the candidate a good overview of Smartly's culture and knowledge of the product, while Smartly can obtain motivated employees. Good communication throughout the process. The interviews are quite generalist, so not too much on the role specifically, but of course you can always ask more.
Interview questions [5]
Question 1
1. Introductory call with team lead to learn more about the company, its culture and team for the candidate and about the candidate for Smartly. Rather low-key and chilled discussion.
2. Homework in the form of a tech puzzle requiring some scripting and technical problem solving. Shouldn't take too long if you're doing the right thing.
4. Product demo. Candidate given access to Smartly tool and a fictional sales situation with around a week to prepare. In the demo, Smartly HR and members of the team the candidate is being recruited for act as the client.
5. Discussion with a member of the leadership team. Lowkey about the candidates past and interests, cultural fit and any questions for the leadership team.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Smartly
Interview
- Phone screen with recruiter, then hiring manager.
- Technical puzzle.
- Interview that tests on facebook advertising concepts.
- 'Selling' the team their own product.
- Discussion with leadership.
The process was challenging and over a period of almost 3 months, with hours of preparation needed for steps in between.
The reasons for each step is well explained and the interviewee is also made to learn a lot about the product and facebook advertising.
Feedback is given at every step which was great.
What wasn't great was business needs changing after the 3 months of interview that the demands of the role were no longer met and this resulted in a no offer despite good feedback throughout.
Future interviewees are advised to be more ambiguous with your career goals as this might also be used as a reason for rejection.
I applied in-person. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Smartly (Helsinki, Southern Finland)
Interview
The interview process is both demanding and rewarding and you get as much out of it as you put in it. It consists of five steps, out of which the major and most demanding steps are researching the facebook product and doing the sales demo. There are no special tricks to the process, just be yourself, do the work, and don't try to bs. As mentioned in multiple interviews here, they allow you to ask questions and probe into the role and company a lot, and I recommend using it to your advantage.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Explain how <feature X> would benefit <a company>?
