I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Toptal (Toronto, ON) in Dec 2019
Interview
A long and fruitless process that began to lose steam halfway through. The problem with Toptal is it is a meta context for the job market. As it claims to have a very elite “platform” for finding work, it is in constant competition with the real-world marketplace which moves far more quickly. After meeting with three representatives over a matter of several weeks, I was left to prioritize other offers for higher quality opportunities and lost interest in their convoluted onboarding process. This process involved presentations and mock projects, as well as primitive, email-based communication requiring compressed PDFs going back and forth through assessors with different and contradictory criteria. Felt like I was working with the bottom 3% rather than the top.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Provide a PDF portfolio with six projects explained in detail under 10 mb. Apparently online portfolios aren’t a thing.
Do a mock project that will be assessed with unknown expectations by two different people providing contradictory feedback. Offer 40 hours of research and design in 8 hours and provide it all in a 10 mb PDF via, you guessed it, email.
I applied online. I interviewed at Toptal in Sept 2022
Interview
1o1 Interview for first screener - to speak about your skills, background and check your English level is sufficient
Portfolio Review - with 6 case studies, to be submitted online
Challenge - task that will be evaluated by a senior designer
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How did you run your last project?
How many years of experience do you hold?
Which software are you familiar with?