Connecting Dots, Delivering Results
Typical Hiring Process
Most organizations have a 5 stage approach to hiring. Some companies may have 1-2 extra stages based on seniority level. Your recruiter is the best person to tell you more about the process.
Don't forget to ask your recruiter "How the hiring process works or how long is the hiring process?".
Every organization is different, within the organization every group is different, within every group the individuals are different and every job requirement and resume are different.
Very few organizations train their employees on how to hire.
Stage 1
Recruiter
After shortlisting your resume in most cases, the recruiter first sends an email to set up a call. They use this opportunity to tell you more about the job. They check your communication skills, interest level, potential match, availability etc. Some recruiters may also ask you some scripted technical / non-technical questions (as given by the hiring manager). This is also your opportunity to ask questions to the recruiter.
Stage 2
Phone (Go Wide)
Usually the first (technical) phone call happens with a Senior Member of the team or the Hiring Manager. They want to know more about what you have "achieved". They typically probe you in the areas of Program Management Skills, Ability to solve Hypothetical Problems, Leadership skills, Technical skills, Communication skills and may also determine if you are a good fit for the team or the organization. They typically go wide rather than deep touching last 5-10 years of your work experience.
Stage 3
OnSite (Go Deep)
Have you ever played or watched Cricket or Baseball? In the Interview you are the hitter and you will face 4-7 different pitchers/bowlers. While your goal is to hit a home run every time, you do not know what kind of ball you will get, at what speed or angle, since you are meeting the pitcher for the first time. In most companies different pitchers will probe you in different areas. Some will deep dive into program management, while some will deep dive into problem solving. When a Director of QA interviews a Program Manager, they look at what kind of experience this person has in interacting with QA organization? Will this person be able to work with my org without any friction? Will this candidate be helpful to us or a pain? Since a Program Manager ends up working with different cross functional teams, typical interview panel consists of Engineering, QA, Program, Product Leads, Managers or Directors and 1-2 of your peer Program Managers.
Stage 4
Hiring Decision
This is your CV description. Concisely describe your specific position, degree, certification or personal experience. Make sure to include relevant skills, accomplishments and milestones gained. Don’t forget to adjust the timeframe in the subtitle.
Stage 5
Offer (Negotiations)
This is your CV description. Concisely describe your specific position, degree, certification or personal experience. Make sure to include relevant skills, accomplishments and milestones gained. Don’t forget to adjust the timeframe in the subtitle.
What's Unique?
In this section you will find unique things about different organizations
Amazon
Hires for Specific Position.
Looks for Specific Expertise.
Bar is very high.
L5 and above may have a bar raiser who can Veto a "YES" to "NO".
Moves very fast from Interview to Decision to Offer
Typically does Generic Hiring. They always look for Good Candidates.
May or may not look for Specific Expertise.
Bar is very high. Interviewers are highly trained and they take detailed notes (which could be annoying at times)
(T) PMs may be asked design problems.
Moves very slow from one stage to another.
A Hiring committee decides Yes/No based on feedback entered by interviewers.
Recruiter phone screen. You should expect typical behavioral and resume questions like, "Tell me about yourself", "Why Facebook?", or "Tell me about your current day to day as a technical program manager."
TPM phone screen. One or two initial 45 minutes screens which usually happen over the phone with a current Facebook TPM. The types of questions you'll be asked are the same as during the onsite. Be prepared to cover: Technical Projects, architecture and system design, program sense, partnerships and leadership / team collaboration.
TPM onsite Interview
Technical project retrospective, where you'll be asked to deep dive into the technical aspects of past programs you've managed.
Architecture and system design, where you'll have to design a large scale system from scratch to test your architecture skills.
Program sense, where you'll be tested on your program management and executing acumen.
Partnership, where you'll need to demonstrate your ability to work efficiently with cross-functional teams (e.g. engineering, product, etc.)
Leadership / Collaboration, where you'll need to show you've successfully lead teams in the past (e.g. motivate, resolve conflict, etc.)
In some cases, Facebook may ask you to do a follow up interview after your onsite to drill further in one of the five areas listed above. This means you're close to getting an offer but the company wants to double check you're meeting the hiring bar for a given criteria (e.g. program sense).
Facebook TPMs are organized in two different TPM orgs.
The Infrastructure TPM org. TPMs in this group tend to have a specific area of focus such as network engineering, data centers, capacity, etc
The Product TPM org. Some user-facing product features do require strong technical chops (e.g. using machine learning to detect abuse on FB). Product TPMs are therefore the bridge between engineering and product in these cases. Their role is similar to product manager technical role at Amazon.
Facebook's focus is the "Technical" portion of "TPM", which is why they have TPMs that have varying area of expertise:
Network Engineering TPMs work cross-functionally with other teams to build out Facebook’s network. These TPMs work on data center networking, backbone networking, and edge deployments. Our goal is to connect the world, and it all begins with building out the network.
Data Center TPMs manage our large data center build and turn up projects, playing a key role as Facebook continues to scale. They are responsible for aligning multiple teams to build and operate these massive data center buildings.
Hardware TPMs strive to make the hardware more scalable, efficient, and effective. The TPMs work with many cross-functional teams to develop and deliver first-class, hyper-scale hardware.
Capacity TPMs team up with engineers to determine how to scale and manage Facebook capacity to accommodate the users. They’re consistently challenged to draw from technical skills to drive programs, including knowledge of data centers, power, hardware, networking, and software.
Engineering TPMs work with engineers on software efficiency, reliability, and quality to integrate into our back-end infrastructure while simultaneously helping to shape product vision.
Click here for Facebook's 5 core values
Be Bold
Focus On Impact
Move Fast
Be Open
Build Social Value
Case Study which has to be submitted in 2 business days. Many interviewers reported that it was a SQL assessment. Create a schema types.
Microsoft
At Microsoft, depending on the team, the work could run the gamut from pure product management to customer engagements.
Program managers can be found managing projects, analyzing data, engaging with and selling to customers, syncing with internal stakeholders, or speaking at conferences.
" Spend less time in exactly figuring out from various websites the specifics of the process and spend more time in preparing for the interview . . . . . . Now ! "
- says "TheTPgM"
I went through top 50+ companies hiring process and here is my honest takeaway. At a higher level, its same across the board. The various factors that influence the process are:
Which group you are applying for?
What job type you are applying for?
Who is your recruiter?
Who is your hiring manager?