The interview process consisted of a 15-min initial call, an hour-long life story interview followed by three, one-hour interviews with the team.
Personally, I had an enjoyable interview experience. The recruiter was kind, professional, and quick to provide updates. However, some glaring diversity issues became evident as I was preparing for, and ultimately navigating through the series of interviews.
1) I was shocked at the severe lack of diversity in the company, particularly within the talent and HR team. A significant majority of junior and senior leadership within the talent space consists of white men and women. Not to mention the overwhelming majority of recruiters that also reflect this demographic. Tokenism does not make you diverse; diversity extends beyond just gender; and diversity doesn't just apply to junior and intermediate roles.
2) Although I enjoyed the life story interview, I can see how dangerous this method of interviewing can be. As much as the life story is meant to seek out impact-driven, self-aware, and engaged individuals, the nature of the life story makes it very susceptible to conscious and unconscious bias. It's concerning that a very homogenous company like Shopify screens for cultural fit, first. Seems like a D&I nightmare.
Although I was excited about the role at first, it seemed more and more that to thrive at Shopify, you need to fit a certain cultural (or lack thereof) mold.
It was an extensive process: phone screen, Life Story, and then 3 interviews with the team. Everyone was amazing, and I enjoyed the process. The team spoke about the projects they were managing, and everything was very conversational.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What are some projects you managed in your current role?
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Shopify
Interview
Interview was fine. went through the full loop incl virtual onsite. it's a lot for a person to go through, both mentally/emotionally and timewise. but surprisingly SHOPIFY DOESN'T CARE! i was ghosted - don't know how else to say it...no word, no follow up...even though i followed up with a nice message to the recruiter. i will never understand why you have to leave someone hanging instead of even simply copy pasting a rejection email. it genuinely hurts and is damaging to someone who went through a lot, and got good feedback/reinforcement, to not even get the courtesy of a rejection. just, nothing.
and so despite the interview process and people being fine throughout - one of the interviewers seemed miserable - this stands out as THE worst process i've ever been through, and i've been through lots of em. i've gotten offers and i've been rejected, but i've never been ghosted
it goes without saying that i would never apply for anything at shopify again, and based on the fact that my experience isn't isolated (read other reviews) you shouldn't either. i'll make sure to share my experience with anyone and everyone too, forever.