The initial process began with a recruiter responding to my application. Spoke with him in detail and discussed the typical next steps and benefits at a high level. Immediately after that, a call was set up to discuss the role with the hiring manager. Had a 30 minute conversation with her and she advised they would be giving me a take home assignment to complete and after that we would discuss it with a panel to work through my thought processes. Received the assignment on Monday, after messaging from the recruiter stated " *hiring manager* enjoyed speaking with you and let me know she'd like to advance you to the next step in our hiring process..." returned it Tuesday morning. The assignment took about 4 hours to write and ensure it was buttoned up for the panel review. On Wednesday, received a generic email from a no-reply address saying: "Thank you for meeting with ... and taking time to work on the case study for the Product Manager opportunity here at Kin. We have both enjoyed speaking with you and getting to know about your experience and aspirations. *hiring manager* and I had a chance to connect, and unfortunately we will not be advancing you to the next stage of interviews. We feel fortunate to have such a highly qualified group of individuals to consider, and are feeling more aligned with a few of the other individuals in the process at this time". This interview process is a farce in my opinion. Why would a candidate be asked to complete a multi-hour assignment and not even be brought in to discuss the work. IF there were some feedback besides the generic "we're so lucky to have so many candidates..." nonsense that gets thrown around in rejection emails, it would allow candidates to better understand the WHY behind the reason the company doesn't feel they are a good fit. None of that was given and it's a shame that the company cannot be transparent with candidates. *Update* The recruiter responded and provided additional context to their decisioning. It is counterintuitive to what the instructions within the assignment say as well as the messaging I received directly from the hiring manager, so all of the previously stated information remains accurate. Based on my experience, Kin appears to be terrified of making a decision on hiring candidates and in addition to offering below average wages within their compensation package, also has confounding communication throughout.

Although I didn't ultimately receive an offer at Kin, the recruitment and interview process there was one of the more streamlined and thoughtful processes I've undergone in my job search. It was three parts (HR screener, 1:1 meeting with hiring manager, homework and panel discussion) and took a little less two weeks, all told. They were pretty flexible with scheduling. I applied online and was contacted by their recruiter a couple weeks later. Standard phone screen. He was relatively knowledgeable about product management considering it wasn't his field. My interview with the product director was set up the next day: standard behavioral and scenario-based questions; he also asked me some basic SQL questions which anyone with an intermediate grasp of SQL should be able to answer. The prod director was very sharp but very personable. One thing I really appreciated is he told me in the meeting that he was advancing me to the next round. This is the sort of emotional intelligence you think would be standard in the world, but unfortunately isn't lol. The homework assignment was a broadly outlined strategy proposal which I then presented to a panel consisting of the hiring manager, a marketing director, and a research director. Obviously, this was probably the most difficult part, as they had all read my proposal and come up with some gotcha questions. But they were all super professional, welcoming, bright people and it was overall a good meeting. When I didn't get the job, the recruiter called to let me know and gave me some feedback. I appreciated the humanity in this, as I've heard of other organizations putting people through five or six rounds of interviews only to reject them with an automated email. Like I said, overall a great process at what seems like a solid company. Good luck!