In this article, you’ll develop an in-depth understanding of Meta’s interview process and how to tackle each step. You’ll also learn about the resources and professional support services, like MentorCruise, you can add to your arsenal to help you land that dream role.
Meta Hiring Process Overview
The Meta interview process is a multi-step structure that covers everything from how you’ll fit into Meta’s culture to your technical capabilities. In the words of Monique Aguirre, a recruiter for Meta, “the interview process is thorough, so patience and mindset strength are key.”
The interview process is generally broken up into three different stages:
- A pre-screening phone call with a recruiter
- A technical screening phone call with a Meta engineer
- An onsite interview
Depending on the success of your interviews, your recruiter will then put you forward for hiring consideration. During this stage, your profile will be considered by Meta’s senior leadership team. From here, you’ll (hopefully) receive the golden ticket — a Meta job offer.
Preparation is key for the Meta interview process. Honing in on your technical skills, and understanding the structure of the discussions will make sure you’re ready to take full advantage of the time you have in front of your interviewees. Your Meta recruiter will help with this by providing prep material, calls and ongoing support throughout the process.
Here’s What the Interviewees Say
According to online feedback from sites like Comparably, the Meta interview process is reported to be largely positive. On average, past Meta candidates have given the company culture high praise and complemented its fast response rate.
The most common positive feedback includes:
- The prep materials provided are helpful, detailed and focused on the role you’re interviewing for
- The recruiters are friendly, helpful and professional
- The interviewers are open to discussion and collaboration
- The flow of the process is clear, fair and relatively quick
Some areas of possible improvement that are mentioned, include:
- The formal testing process can minimize the opportunity to show off creativity
- Sometimes there is a lack of behavioral and personal questions, making the process feel very technical
How Long is the Meta Interview Process?
From start to finish, the Meta Interview process can last anywhere between 1-6 months. However, this timeline heavily depends on the type of position you’re interviewing for, and the time it takes for recruiters to start screening resumes.
Meta Interview Process Timeline
The Meta interview process can be broken down into four main steps. Each step’s outcome is important and will help make up your candidate profile. This profile will be submitted to a hiring committee for analysis and will help them determine if you’re the right candidate for the job!
Step #1: Resume Screening
Your resume should tell a recruiter about your most relevant skills, experience and qualifications. The recruiter will compare this information to the qualifications and skills required for the role. If you’re a good fit, you’ll be put forward to start the interview process.
Step #2: Recruiter Phone Screening
This is a “get to know you” chat with the recruiter. It lasts 10 to 20 minutes and covers your basic experience, motivations for applying and career goals. Expect to go through your resume with the recruiter and make sure to highlight the similarities between your experience and the requirements of the job. Be yourself and let the recruiter get to know you, so they can better gauge if you’ll be a good culture fit.
Step #3: Technical Phone Screening
For technical roles, this step is imperative to show you know your stuff. During the 45-minute interview, you’ll first have a deep dive into your resume with a meta engineer. You’ll then be asked to complete two coding questions through an online collaborative coding editor. These questions will focus on CS fundamentals.
Talk through your work and processes with the engineer while you’re completing the questions to show that you’re not only capable but confident with your skills too.
Step #4: Onsite Interview
The most rigorous of the interview steps, the onsite interview is made up of 3-5, 45-minute conversations. Coding roles should expect 2 technical interviews, while product and system design roles can expect 1-2. You’ll also complete one culture and behavioral interview. This last interview is your opportunity to impress the interviewees with your character and demonstrate that you have similar values and behaviors.
How to Nail the Interview Process
Use STAR to Adapt Your Resume and Cover Letter to What They Want
You want to be clear and concise in your resume and cover letter. What skills does the job description emphasize? And, how can you prove that you have these skills?
The STAR method can be used to break down specific parts of your experience to match the requirements of the role. The STAR method is as follows:
Situation
What is the context of your example?
Task
What did you need to achieve?
Action
What steps did you take to try and achieve the goal?
Result
What was the result of your actions?
Build Your Network To Get A Foot In The Door
People in your professional network can be your greatest asset during the job hunt process. These contacts might be the people to suggest you for a future role, act as a reference or provide guidance throughout the interview process.
Focus your networking efforts towards people who are already in your target job or similar roles. They know the role best, are familiar with the interview process, and can introduce you to the right supervisors.
Networking opportunities can be anytime, anywhere. But, for purposeful networking we suggest:
- Attending industry-specific events or seminars
- Joining professional associations
- Reaching out to connections via social media and other online networks
Elevate your skills with an industry mentor
Another great way to tackle your Meta interview prep, and feel more supported, is through professional mentorship. Mentoring sessions with industry professionals allow you to deep dive into the technical aspect of the prep materials without the pressure of having to always get it right. By collaborating with a mentor, you’ll also build the confidence to really engage with Meta’s interviewees and show them that you really know your stuff!
Practice Answering Behavioral And Technical Questions
The STAR method is not only great for your written application, but for person-to-person Meta interview questions too. Hiring managers ask behavioral interview questions to better gauge if you’re the right fit for not only the job but also for the team.
Prepare your answers to these questions by following the STAR method and impress your interviewee with your concise and relevant answers.
Meta Interview Questions
To help shape your meta interview prep, we’ve identified possible interview questions and how to best answer them using the STAR method.
- How Do You Handle Conflict In Your Team?
You want to show you’re a proactive and personable problem solver here. An example answer could be:
Situation
I was working as a junior UX designer on a previous project, and my supervisor was always late giving me feedback on my work.
Task
Due to the delay in feedback, I was constantly behind on my deadlines and management was becoming increasingly unimpressed with my performance.
Action
I organized a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor to express my issues and to see if we could come up with a more effective feedback system. I kept calm and made sure the language I used was platonic and constructive.
Result
After some deliberation, my supervisor and I negotiated to implement a more timely feedback system. From there I was able to better manage my deadlines.
- How do you handle multiple deadlines?
This is all about showing that you know how to prioritize and delegate. Think of your work process and convey this to the recruiter using STAR. An example may be:
Situation
During my time as a freelance web developer, I often had multiple client projects on the go simultaneously.
Task
There was one period of time I had four projects that had very tight, conflicting deadlines. One project, in particular, was giving me trouble due to unfamiliar code. I was becoming distracted by this issue and started to neglect the other projects.
Action
Due to the short time frame, I knew I wasn’t going to meet my deadlines. I wrote a priority list and realized that in the time I could complete the other 3 projects, a professional contact of mine, who was more familiar with this code, could complete the fourth. I contracted out and delegated the fourth project to my contact and focused on my other three clients.
Result
As a result, I met my deadlines and my contact did a fantastic job on the fourth project. After the deadlines, I asked my contact to teach me what they did. This way, I learnt and developed new skills on my own time and without risking the quality of any of my clients’ outcomes.
Ready to nail your meta interview prep?
The Meta interview process is a thorough, rigorous affair. However, by taking advantage of the recruiter’s support and prep materials and applying the STAR method, you’ll be well on your way to acing the experience!
You can also maximize your potential and team up with a professional mentor through a service like MentorCruise. Hone in on your technical skills, get a sounding board for all your questions, and nail the interview process with an industry professional by your side every step of the way!
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