I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Prudential (Toronto, ON) in Feb 2023
Interview
It started with the hiring manager reaching out to connect with me on LinkedIn. We had a lovely 30-minute chat and then I entered the process which involved 8 meetings/interviews in total – most of any role I’ve ever interviewed for. The first interview after the conversation with the hiring manager/recruiter was positive – that individual was friendly and very engaged in the interview. Next step was a presentation that I gave on a case study. The instructions said it should take me no more than 2 hours to prepare for the presentation, but that is impossible – I spent 20+ hours on it. Although it was a ton of work, this was a positive experience compared to other experiences I’ve had with doing case studies. The interviewers were very friendly and engaged and I felt that they wanted me to win/be successful. The interview loop after the case study presentation was a negative experience – five 45-minute interviews over three days. Some interviewers were unprepared, others seemed to be trying to catch me out and some were just not friendly people. TIPS - It's important to be aware that you are at a disadvantage if you don’t have a data background - Script answers to interview questions using the STAR format then stick to the script – like glue. POSITIVES & NEGATIVES - Positives: excellent pace, transparent process, received actual feedback on my interview performance (almost unheard of) - Negatives – grueling, time-consuming, bias towards people with data backgrounds
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Standard behavioral types of questions - situational based on your experience. They don't try to trick you and will give you a guide ahead of time on the types of questions that will be asked.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Prudential in Feb 2021
Interview
I should have listened to all of the interview feedback that was previously provided before going through the interview process.
An recruiter external to Assurance reached out to me about this PM position. I went ahead and decided to move forward with the interview process.
I had a one on one discussion with the principal PM at Assurance. Conversation went well and they decided to move forward with the take home assessment. The take home assessment said it would take 4 -6 hours to complete.
I finished the assessment over the weekend and submitted it to the team for review on a Monday. The next day, I received a generic decline. I asked the external recruiter if he could get feedback, he said but he would try but not guarantees.
I personally reached out to the principal PM asking for some feedback as well, but I did not hear anything back. Maybe I just want to see the system change, but spending 4-6 hours to do a take home assessment to not even get 1-2 sentences of feedback seems a very crappy.
Based off of the people Assurance is hiring, it looks like they want people with a fancy MBA, not product managers who can actually do a good job.
I should have listened to the other 4 reviews, but they are all right. Stay away if you don't want to waste your time.
Also.... I had my other PM friends look at my take home assessment and every single one of them agreed that my write up should have moved into the next round of interviews. The only feedback from my PM friends was that my suggested product was a little bit basic, but the question itself said to design a basic product.
Save yourself the trouble, and stay away from Assurance.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
If you could be a PM at any company, why would you want to be a PM there?
Why do you want to switch jobs.
Thank you for your comments. We're sorry to hear about your experience. As a company, we're committed to the success of our agents, associates, and customers, which is why we truly appreciate your feedback so we can continue to improve.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Prudential (Seattle, WA) in Jul 2020
Interview
The interview process had 4 steps:
1. Phone Screen with the Recruiter
2. Phone Screen with the hiring manager (in my case the Chief Growth Officer)
3. Take Home assignment (data analysis, basic product ideation)
4. Interview loop (engineer, product, marketing (CMO)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Each interview had a different flavor to it:
1. Phone Screen - general fit, culture fit
2. Hiring Manager Phone Screen - communication, work style
3. Take Home - All analysis based questions "recommend the best hours for a medicare sales agent to be working based on your analysis of the data"
4. Loop - Engineering (how do you work with engineering, technical ability), Product (ideation based on analysis, reviewed take home in more depth and worked through it together, very collaborative), Marketing (culture fit, ability to influence across departments)
