Every person who has ever looked for a job has been to an interview with a bad interviewer—someone who talks too much about the job and doesn’t listen to the candidate. Then there are the combatants, the interviewers who look at the interview as a battleground. They do everything they can to “stump” job applicants and make them feel funny, scared, or lost.
A good hiring manager wont even consider these approaches. If you want to bore, distract, fluster, or insult the people you are interviewing, you should think about what that says about you and your company and what you want the interview to achieve. Interviews that are stressful almost never reveal useful information about the candidate, and they even less often get people interested in the job.
Interviewing at Cella can be an exciting yet nerve-wracking experience. As a leading provider of AI solutions for consumer packaged goods companies, Cella only hires the best and brightest talent. With the right preparation, you can confidently walk into your Cella interview ready to land your dream job.
This complete guide will tell you everything you need to know to do well in your Cella interview, from how to answer common questions to what to expect at each stage of the process.
Overview of Cella
Before diving into interview prep, it’s helpful to understand a bit about Cella as a company.
Founded in 2018 Cella is a relatively new startup that has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Headquartered in New York City with additional offices in San Francisco Cella now employs over 250 people.
Cella’s mission is to help consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies optimize their marketing spend through AI-powered solutions. Their platform analyzes data to provide insights into promotional strategies, media buying, assortment optimization and more.
Key customers include major CPG corporations like Unilever, PepsiCo, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble. In 2019, Cella raised $40 million in Series B funding to continue expanding their product offerings.
Cella’s Hiring Process
The Cella interview process typically follows these stages:
1. Initial phone/video screening: A 30-minute introductory call with a recruiter or hiring manager to evaluate basic qualifications.
2. Technical phone interview: A 60-90 minute call focused on your ability to solve complex coding problems and explain technical concepts.
3. Take-home assignment: a real-world project you’ll work on on your own time to show what you know
4. On-site interview: a four to six-hour trip to Cella’s office for a series of interviews about skills and behavior
5. Final interview: A conversation with the VP of Engineering or a senior leader.
6. Offer: Congratulations, you got the job! Time to celebrate.
Now let’s look at how to prepare for each step along the way.
Phone & Video Screening Tips
The initial recruiter screen is brief but important. Come prepared to communicate why you’re interested in Cella and how your background fits the role.
Questions they may ask:
- Walk me through your resume.
- Why are you looking to leave your current job?
- Why do you want to work at Cella?
- What excites you about this role?
- What experience do you have with AI/ML?
Tips for success:
- Research the company beforehand and have questions ready about the role.
- Be prepared to walk through work examples that demonstrate relevant experience.
- Convey enthusiasm for the position and how it aligns with your career goals.
- If changing jobs, have a positive reason prepared. Don’t badmouth past employers.
- Brush up on Cella’s products and mission so you can articulate why it appeals to you.
Technical Interview Prep
The technical phone screen will dive deeper into your hands-on skills. Brush up on algorithms, data structures, object-oriented design, and other CS fundamentals.
Some technical questions to expect:
- Explain how you would design a tracking system for an e-commerce website.
- Write a function to reverse a string.
- Implement a queue or stack data structure.
- Traverse a binary tree and print nodes at each level.
- Optimize a slow piece of code.
- Estimate the runtime complexity of an algorithm.
How to ace the technical interview:
- Think through examples aloud to demonstrate your problem-solving process.
- Ask clarifying questions if unsure of the problem.
- Don’t panic if you get stuck. Talk through where your thinking is leading.
- Use diagrams and models to illustrate concepts.
- Explain your code clearly as you write it.
- Discuss tradeoffs of different approaches.
- Analyze the runtime and space complexity of solutions.
Take-Home Assignment Success
Many candidates find the take-home project the most stressful part of the process. But with some planning, you can tackle it smoothly.
To stand out on your take-home assignment:
- Clarify expectations upfront so you understand the goals and tech stack.
- Treat it like a work project – plan requirements, design architecture, write tests.
- Add clear documentation so reviewers can follow your thinking.
- Polish UI/UX elements that users will interact with.
- Make your code clean, readable, and modular.
- Include unit tests to demonstrate correctness.
- Explain design choices and tradeoffs in comments.
- Triple check for bugs before submitting!
Rock the Onsite Interview
You’re almost there! The in-office interviews will assess both technical competence and culture fit.
Some common behavioral questions:
- Tell me about a time you faced a challenge at work and how you handled it.
- What do you look for in a manager or team culture?
- How do you prioritize tasks when everything is high priority?
- Give an example of a time you had a conflict with a coworker.
- Describe a mistake you made and what you learned.
Excel in the onsite by:
- Demonstrating passion for the role and interest in Cella.
- Backing up claims with real examples and stories.
- Being open about weaknesses and lessons learned.
- Asking insightful questions that show your understanding of Cella.
- Letting your personality and values shine through.
- Emphasizing teamwork, collaboration, and empathy.
- Sending thank you notes to solidify a positive impression.
Final Interview Insights
The final step is an executive interview, often with the VP or CEO. wow them by:
- Articulating your long-term vision and career aspirations.
- Explaining how you can add unique value to the team.
- Outlining ambitious yet feasible ideas to impact the company.
- Doing more prep than you think necessary – it will pay off!
- Asking smart, strategic questions about Cella’s roadmap.
- Demonstrating you’re a cultural fit who aligns with their values.
- Confirming your excitement for the company and desire to join their mission.
Offer Tips & Next Steps
The offer call is what all your hard work has led up to. Avoid these mistakes:
- Negotiating salary too aggressively without considering total comp.
- Accepting right away in excitement without considering thoroughly.
- Declining the offer before trying to address any reservations.
Instead:
- Thank the recruiter genuinely for the opportunity.
- Carefully review the entire offer including salary, stock, benefits.
- Reiterate your interest in Cella and the role.
- Voice any concerns openly and see if they can be resolved.
- Negotiate respectfully with logic and data if needed.
- Request time if you need to make a decision. But not too much!
- Once confident in your choice, accept enthusiastically and get ready to start your exciting new career chapter at Cella!
Final Thoughts
With deliberate, thorough preparation across every interview stage, you will demonstrate to Cella that you are the ideal candidate to join their innovative team. Use this guide to understand the process, practice responding to likely questions, and present the best version of yourself.
Stay confident under pressure, be personable and genuine, back up claims with examples, and show your passion for the role and company. You’ve got this! Soon you will have a Cella offer in hand and be off to tackle new challenges that will grow your skills and career.
You’re in Control
Everyone gets nervous before a face-to-face interview, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a stressful or unpleasant experience. Both candidates and interviewers have been through bad interviews. But everyone has also been through interviews that went well, where both people felt comfortable and open, and they were happy with what they learned and how they were able to express themselves.
YOU decide how well the interview goes by asking most of the questions in a logical order, listening carefully, and making sure the candidate stays on topic. Here are some tips to help you conduct a great interview each and every time:
- Schedule interviews in the morning, preferably early. At this time of day, you’re more focused and less likely to be interrupted or distracted. Interviews can get in the way of your workday, and most candidates also prefer morning interviews because they are less likely to cause problems at their current job.
- Try to make candidates feel at ease. Make sure that your office or meeting room is clean and comfortable. Tell your staff that you are interviewing and put the phone on voicemail so that they don’t bother you. Sitting down when the candidate walks in? Get up to greet them and shake their hand.
- Close the door after the candidate is seated. Interviews should be private, and a lot of candidates get nervous when they think the whole office can hear what they say. Offer them something to drink, talk about other things, and don’t rush. Spend some time breaking the ice and making everyone feel welcome. Tell candidates, both out loud and in your body language, that you’re glad to meet them and have the chance to learn more about them.
- Give candidates an overview. Tell applicants what you want from the job and how long you think the interview will last. Because it’s polite, let them know if you plan to meet other people or show them around the office afterward.
- Prepare your questions ahead of time. They should be targeted and purposeful. Applicants will get confused by aimless non-sequiturs, which will make them think you are not ready.
- Dont lose sight of your goals. The goal is not to get a person into a chair. Its goal is to get the best candidate for the job as quickly and cheaply as possible. What questions should you ask? Can the candidate do the job? (This refers to technical knowledge, education, and experience); Will the candidate do the job? (This refers to motivation); Will the candidate fit? (This refers to culture); Does the candidate want to do the job? (This refers to shared goals).
- Probe. For job applicants, ask what experiences they have had that are similar to the ones they will be using at their new job. Find out how they did, what they liked and didn’t like, and so on. In other words, project future performance based on past behavior.
- Be wary of first impressions. Without giving the candidate a chance to show who they are and what they can offer, you won’t be able to see them when they walk through the door. Even though they might be the perfect match, you’ve already ruled them out.
Crafting Great Interview Questions
Your interview questions should have a purpose. Select them carefully, word them carefully and ask them at the best possible moment. Each question should be designed to yield very specific information about the candidate and his or her credentials. There are several types of questions that will generate the best results:
- Questions that ask for evidence of accomplishment. This type of question opens the field for elaboration. Don’t just accept a short summary of a project a candidate worked on. Check to see what role they played and how important they were to the project’s success.
- Questions that ask candidates to appraise themselves. If the applicant has been in a top job (like team leader, task force leader, art director, manager, etc.), ), ask them why they think they were given this job and how well they did with it.
- Questions that get candidates to identify preferences and strengths. If the candidate seems really excited about one kind of project over another, try to find out why. These things help you figure out what the candidate likes and doesn’t like about the job.
- Questions that are more general and open-ended. That is a good test to see how well the applicant can concentrate, arrange their thoughts, and get to the important things. This kind of question looks like this: “What was it like to be the art director for a national ad campaign?” It gets to the point because it makes the candidate choose which part of the question to answer first. What candidates don’t say is just as important as what they do.
It’s usually a good idea to use a variety of question types, such as closed-ended (which asks for simple, direct answers), open-ended (which requires thought and gets answers that show attitudes and opinions), and hypothetical (which asks how the candidate would react to a made-up situation).
These are tried-and-true interview questions that will get candidates to tell you what you need to know about them and give you an idea of how they think and what’s important to them.
- Can you tell me about yourself?
- What do you know about our business? Why do you want to work here?
- What interests you about this job?
- What skills and strengths can you bring to this position?
- Can you tell me about your current job?
- Your last job and the job you want to leave: why did you leave?
- In terms of your job, what do you think are your biggest strengths?
- What are your greatest weaknesses?
- How do you think your boss would describe you?
- What do you think was the most important thing you did at work?
- What was your worst failure on the job?
- What do you think the company you work for now or used to do to be more successful?
- Could you describe a typical day at your current or previous job?
- What sort of work environment do you prefer?
- What brings out the best in your performance?
- In three years, where do you see yourself and your job?
- Tell me about a big choice you’ve made in your life and how you came to it.
- Who do you talk to about problems? (from Human Resources Kit for Dummies, 2001)
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