MathWorks Program Manager interview questions

This interview will always stand out to me as the worst interview that I ever had. The recruiter was nice with the phone screen, but moving onto the hiring manager was rough. As I was in the process of transitioning from the military, I was trying to discuss program/project management, lifecycles, how to get buy-in from stakeholders, etc. But the hiring manager believed 'I could just order people to do things' rather than get buy-in from teams, other commands, etc. Stuck on that fact, the interview went no where, no matter how I attempted to explain that it wasn't like that. While it could be a perfect storm of bad days for the both of us, it will always stick out in my mind how combative they were.

First interview with someone in the PMO close to your role and/or assignment. Then you'll be asked to create a presentation summarising your career and highlights from a project, agreed with the hiring manager. This is great because presenting and summarising are key skills in the job and you'll collaborate through the drafts. It also gives a solid base to start the second round of interviews, presenting to a panel including PMO and Engineering in my case. Then four individual interviews with, as often happens for Program, a range of different roles. Then final interview with HR. The questions you'll get are very varied and will depend on your presentation. Always help your interviewer by focussing on your personal contribution: what you did and why. I got very insightful questions from everyone with a fantastic ethos of respect and genuine curiosity. I withdrew just after the second round because of a sudden opportunity elsewhere I could not miss, so I don't know if I would have been offered the job. I'd definitely apply again at MathWorks and will do my best to be as good as them when hiring.