BE WARNED! Phone interviews were typical with recruiter and hiring manager, standard questions and answers. But when it came to the in-person interview I was perplexed at the experience. It definitely turned me off. I met with 7 or 8 people in a loop who were all nice and friendly, but most were in their 2nd job out of college and had just moved into a new role/promotion in last two weeks. I'm totally fine working with and for any generation but when the peer interviewer (other Sr PMM) interviewed me it was quite clear he was doing his best to sound and act as young as he could be by dropping every form of the F-bomb about 30 times in total during our 45 minute chat. Total turn off.
When I finally got to the hiring manager at the end, he asked (knowing my past startup experience and critical decision making process to work at another) what I look for in picking a company. I explained company with solid product/service, industry white space and funding (all good at Outreach) and then the other factor is personal career growth, impressive leadership with diverse backgrounds and mentoring opportunities to continue developing my own career. Since I hadn't seen that yet I followed up that I would want to talk to someone more senior at the company to help make my final decision as it felt like I met with my peers or below (2 directors, rest junior, and I had 5+ years of director experience so yeah, they were my peers).
This was the first time in my entire career of interviewing that there was not a skip level manager or anyone in leadership involved in the interview process. I've worked at startups for 10 years and talked to a lot more--with 4 founders and around 200 employees it was absurd to not include at least a VP or something. In fact at most companies that size a C-level and/or founder were definitely included for any senior+ level roles.
It felt like I was auditioning for a highschool club and I was the college kid back for the summer.
In the end they didn't extend an offer (not shocked or disappointed) and I told the recruiter that if they wanted to get the caliber of folks they say they want, they need to change who is involved and how they handle it. I had no intention of accepting an offer if it was made--was mostly curious to see what they would say at that point. In the end, if you are under 30 or about 30, barely have enough experience and feel hip, then this could be an opportunity for you. Funny final note, when I mentioned the f-bombs to the recruiter his voice dropped and he suddenly sounded about 10 years older and more professional. Red flags went off everywhere for me.