I had a horrible interview experience from beginning to end with Highspot.
During my first phone screen the call with the recruiter dropped. Hey, no biggie, technical problems happen. I called back several times and was sent to an automated system where I could not contact a human being, any human being. I finally gave up and sent an email saying I was still available. Later I got a voicemail, no missed calls, probably because my line was busy trying to reach them, where he implied the call dropping was my fault and provided no way to call him back directly. We had a couple of email exchanges trying to reschedule where I asked him for a direct line. I found him difficult to schedule with and he refused to acknowledge my request for a direct line even if to explain it was against Highspot policy or something. I decided to let this one go and continue my search.
The second time I was put in touch directly with the head of PM via my previous employer who I still keep in touch with because I left on excellent terms. I heard good things about working at Highspot so I decided to give it another go. I had a 30 minute call with the head of PM where he grilled me a little and put me back in touch with the same recruiter. They had two product openings at the time - Principal and Senior. The second phone screen I had with the recruiter I mentioned the best fit for me would probably be the Senior PM opening. In a condescending tone he said that I would need at least 5 years experience to be senior...I have 7 years of experience clearly indicated on my resume. He also assumed I had been fired from my previous role. I explained that I left on my own accord and on excellent terms. He grilled me on my skills and prior experience and then told me he'd put me through to the next round and explained there would be three more rounds. Another one hour phone screen with a PM, a homework assignment with a 30 minute presentation, and then a full day loop.
The one hour phone screen was kind of tough but went well. There were two questions focused around issue tracking systems (e.g. JIRA) and growth (i.e. growing a business). The final round was the homework assignment which turned out to be a 15 minute presentation (not 30 minute) once again about issue tracking systems (you get to pick between Trello, JIRA, Atlassian) with 15 minutes for Q&A. They told me the assignment should take about 90 minutes. It took me much longer than 90 minutes. It was basically to write a full roadmap, business plan, rollout plan, specifications with UX mocks, success metrics, pricing strategies, etc. I don't know any good PM who can do this in 90 minutes. I presented to three people for about 15 minutes via Zoom, they asked questions for about 5 minutes, and abruptly ended the call 10 minutes early without telling me when to expect to hear anything either way. I waited three business days before emailing and asking if I was moving forward. The recruiter replied saying no. I probably wouldn't have heard at all if I hadn't reached out. After two (well, three) phone screens and the homework assignment, I found that incredibly rude.
A note to minority candidates considering product roles here:
During the process I noticed only white men (4 separate individuals) were part of my interviews. As a minority candidate I wondered why they hadn't given me a more diverse loop. Industry data clearly indicates white men are more likely to hire white men, people of color to hire people of color, women to hire women, etc. I assume they know this?
I investigated and learned through the grapevine that the entire 5 or 6 person PM team (including the hiring manager) were white men. If this were an older established tech company I wouldn't necessarily find that to be a red flag. It's incredibly hard to make changes to an already existing culture and team. However, I would expect a brand new company like Highspot that's made the majority of its hires in the last year to make an effort to start off on the right foot and prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in their hiring. I heard they've hired two women since then. I don't know if either of them were POC.