I interviewed for an Engineering Manager position at Zapier. The entire interview process, from screening to offer, took a little more than a month and was arguably one of the best that I have experienced when compared to other companies.

Interviews are, of course, subjective, and one of the challenges that companies face is the ability to devise and replicate an interview process that candidates consider to be fair, equitable, and positive, regardless of the outcome. As a result of my experience, I came to the conclusion that Zapier not only cares about its recruitment process but goes above and beyond when it comes to providing the candidate with the best experience possible.

For instance, my technical recruiter frequently checked in with me and updated me in a timely manner leading up to and immediately after my interviews. Additionally, the interviewers made an active effort to make the interviews more of a conversation rather than an interrogation. I was also given the option to meet with and direct questions to executives at the company once I had cleared the interviews and was presented with a verbal offer.

The first stage of the process was a 30-minute screening interview with a technical recruiter. Screening interviews are pretty standard across the industry, so there's not much to share here other than the need to be transparent about your experience as well as what you are looking to get out of your next role.

The second stage of the process was a 1-hour job fit interview with the hiring manager, in this case, a Senior Engineering Manager. The job fit interview consisted of questions that were used to help gauge my management style as well as understand my values based on my prior management experience.

The third stage of the process was a 1-hour manager skills interview with two Engineering Managers. This interview was similar to the job fit interview; however, it put more emphasis on situational-based questions as well as topics such as hiring, onboarding, growth, performance, and being result-driven.

The fourth stage of the process was a 1.5-hour architectural skills interview with an Engineering Manager and a Director of Engineering. Prior to the interview, I was given 5 days to complete a skills assessment, which took me 3 days to complete. The assessment comprised creating a presentation around a project, product, or initiative that I had previously worked on. The specifics regarding what I was expected to cover as part of the presentation were provided to me beforehand.

The first 20-25 minutes of the interview were allocated to my presentation, which was subsequently followed by my interviewers asking me clarifying questions, technical questions, and probing questions to further gauge my knowledge and experience. Overall, I really enjoyed this stage of the interview due to the genuine interest demonstrated by the interviewers to learn more and dig into the guts of my presentation.

The fifth and final stage of the process was a 1.5-hour interview with the VP of Engineering. This was a great opportunity for me to understand how the entire Engineering organization at Zapier was structured while at the same time taking advantage of the opportunity to prove why I was the best candidate for the job. The interviewer was very easy to talk to and was transparent when answering my questions.

I was presented with a verbal offer the day after my final interview and was also given the option of meeting with additional executives at the company to help ease my decision-making process. This was very welcomed and was a no-brainer, as it gave me the additional touchpoints that I needed to make sure that Zapier would be the right cultural fit for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations and accepted the offer soon thereafter!

1. How have you promoted Diversity & Inclusion within your teams?

2. How do you achieve a balance between autonomy and micromanagement?

3. Describe a situation that required you to resolve a conflict in the workplace setting.

4. What are some tangible ways through which you have helped your team members grow and achieve promotions?