I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Klarna (Berlín) in Mar 2020
Interview
There was a hiring manager call, two product calls and take-home assignment that I presented on-site in the Berlin office. The communication was smooth and all parts of the process nicely organised
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Q: How would you design a platform for loyalty programs for merchants integrated with Klarna?
4 separate interviews 2 general 1 case 1 team fit. 1st 2 interviews will narrow you down to a couple of teams . The case study is on a team by team basis where you are asked to solve a similar problem than the team facing it
I applied through other source. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Klarna (Berlín)
Interview
After investing several hours in vaguely defined case study and even more time in 6 calls including 8 different senior team members of Klarna my impression is as follows:
- the interview process is unguided, unclear and often time wasting as for the candidate so for the company.
- the logical test is especially wasteful, it can be considered as disrespectful even for someone with 10+ years of industry experience.
- the recruiting is not a priority: neither for the HR nor for the interviewers. If you have any questions regarding the interview process or assignment, you won’t receive any meaningful response.
- you can meet some really interesting and smart people during the journey but most of interviewers I met seemed to be bored from the beginning on. They are interviewing you because they have been told to, not because they are interested in finding a good talent to join the company.
- for some reason the company tries to position itself as a new Facebook or Google of the banking/payment industry but in the same time challenging the status quo or even asking questions is not appreciated.
- My impression of the company culture: when you are told to jump the only allowed question is „how high?“.