I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Motive in Oct 2023
Interview
There were 9 interviews total which was really excessive in my opinion, although it could be because I was a referral. Recruiter, hiring manager, a presentation round with a panel, and deep dives in tech, design, and product topics, then a meeting with the VP of product and the CPO. The recruiter was very responsive and friendly. I really liked the hiring manager and everyone I spoke with. Everyone was super friendly. That is until I spoke with the CPO which was a required last step before an offer. The meeting with the CPO was supposed to be a "casual chat" but turned out to be an interview which caught me off guard. He grilled me on bizarre industry-related questions that were more PR/marketing related in my opinion. Until the CPO "chat" it seemed like everything was moving towards an offer. However, this one experience prevented the offer from going through for reasons they wouldn't explain. It was unfortunately a waste of time for me and for the people who interviewed me. The experience with the CPO left me with a really bad feeling about the company and ultimately I'm glad it ended the way it did because I try my best to avoid political drama at companies.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
For the presentation they provided two prompts; one specific to the role and one more general. The general prompt is to come up with a feature and provide information on that feature.
I had a disappointing interview experience with this company, particularly during the case study round. It felt less like an evaluation of candidates and more like an attempt to crowdsource ideas.
As others have also mentioned, the process raises concerns about how candidate submissions might be used. The JAM session appeared superficial and didn’t seem to meaningfully factor into the evaluation.
Overall, I would advise future candidates to be cautious about how much time and effort they invest in preparing detailed case study materials without clarity on how those inputs will be used.
The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Motive in Feb 2026
Interview
It feels like the interview is designed to collect ideas around the product.
The first round was brief, & it looked like they were eager to move to the next round. There was a product strategy assignment which takes 9-12 hours before the product jam session. I believe I did a decent job because when I casually asked the panel on which of these have you already planned for implementation, there was a good overlap. Nonetheless, I was rejected the next day with no concrete feedback on what didn't work. I wasted 9 hours on a weekend.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tedious Product Strategy assignment to capture the competitive gap and the 12 month vision for Motive Analytics & AI
I applied online. I interviewed at Motive (Detroit, MI) in May 2025
Interview
I had high expectations for my interviews with Motive. The initial call with the technical recruiter went well; she was professional and effectively discussed the role for about 30 minutes. She mentioned that the next step - a call with the hiring manager - would be a behavioral interview focused on my past work and responsibilities.
However, the 30-minute call with the hiring manager turned out to be quite bizarre and was honestly the strangest interview I’ve experienced. He showed up late and didn’t ask me any questions about my background, experience, or accomplishments. Instead, he pulled up the website of the company I currently work for and spent nearly 20 minutes critiquing our product, calling it useless. I found myself defending the product rather than discussing my qualifications. It felt more like he was trying to extract insights about our technical strategy than evaluate me for the role. I kept things high level, as I was uncomfortable sharing detailed information.
Overall, I left the call feeling disappointed and confused, especially since there was no attempt to learn about me as a candidate or assess my fit for the position.
I learned that the hiring manager had only been in his role for a few months, which might explain some of the awkwardness. As a seasoned professional, I expected at least a basic level of engagement and interest in my experience and qualifications.
Update: I provided feedback to the recruiter and the recruiter actually got back to me, apologized for my experience and also escalated my feedback to leadership. She was extremely proactive and mentioned that this is NOT the experience they strive or coach for.