Round 1: the recruiter was great and made the three weeks of back and forth scheduling worth it. I was even more excited about the opportunity than when I first applied. Round 2: the hiring manager was the complete opposite. They joined 10 minutes late wearing a wrinkled undershirt, appeared as if they had just rolled out of bed, and spent much of the call rubbing their eyes and checking their breath. Midway through, they admitted they thought the interview was for a different role and had to read the posting out loud on the spot before asking me to “tell them something not on my resume.” I was genuinely excited about the chance to interview at Upstart, but I felt so disrespected that I ended the call and declined to continue. It was disappointing to see a leader at the company act with such unprofessionalism.

First call is with the recruiter and then Hiring Manager. after that, I had 4 rounds of interviews focused on impact and execution, values, working with stakeholder, strategy and vision respectively. PM interviews are very subjective and this was no different. One refreshing fact is that the team here genuinely looked for candidates and reached out to me which boosted my confidence. Besides, the interview questions are based on standard list of questions.