THE linkedin INTERVIEW
Looking to land a job at LinkedIn but don’t know what the process looks like?
Well, you’ve come to the right place. Detailed in this post is a look at the timeline of the interview process, preparation guidelines, and what's different or unique about LinkedIn's interview process as opposed to other tech companies.
THE linkedin INTERVIEW explained
BACKGROUND
In the LinkedIn interview you will face around 7 interviews comprising of a meeting with the recruiter, followed by 5-6 onsite (or virtual interviews). Note that you may have an interview after your round with the recruiter. If you're asked to participate in another interview before your onsite, it will be an online assessment with two coding challenges which you'll have 75 minutes to answer.
BEFORE THE INTERVIEW
update your RESUME
Make sure you’ve updated your resume and in particular your LinkedIn profile; use deliverables and metrics when you can as they are concrete examples of what you’ve accomplished. Make sure to be as specific as possible.
PREPARATION
Here is our guide on how to prepare for the coding interview with a 12-week plan.
CHOOSING YOUR LANGUAGE
LinkedIn does not require that you know any specific programming language before interviewing for a tech position. However, you should be familiar with the syntax of your preferred language such as Java, Python, C#, C/C++. You should also know some of the languages’ nuances, such as how memory management works, or the most commonly used collections, libraries, etc. Choose one you’re most comfortable with and stick to it.
Prescreen with recruiter
The phone screen will be held over the phone or through Skype. You'll speak to a peer or a potential manager and they'll most likely ask you a combination of behavioral and technical questions.
The technical screen will be your typical data structures and algorithms questions. Feel free to check out LinkedIn's most common interview questions here.
As for your behavioral questions, you can expect similar questions the recruiter has asked. For example, you can expect questions such as: What made you want to apply to LinkedIn, give me a time you led a project and how you handled a team or worked in that team, etc.
You may be asked to demonstrate your skills a little further by working through an online assessment complete with 2 questions and a 75 minute time limit. Here it's best to brush up on your data structures and algorithms.
Here are the 15 most common questions asked in a LinkedIn interview:
ON-site interview
If you make it through the first round, the next step is to spend a day at one of LinkedIn's offices (or spend a half day in virtual meetings) and participate in five to six on-site interviews.
Here, you can expect a few coding rounds as well as system design and behavioral rounds. Your coding rounds will consist of data structures and algorithms. Feel free to check out the most common LinkedIn coding questions here.
As for system design, here is a great guide for learning how to answer any question that might come your way.
Your performance in each round will dictate whether or not you move on, so it's expected that you bring your "A" game to each interview. Just remember, system design interview questions are a huge differentiator between you and your peers so be sure to double down on this subject matter.
THE OFFER / NO offer
From on-site to offer will take about another week or two. This is so management can either evaluate other candidates or to draft up your offer letter along with other logistics.
In the event that you don’t receive an offer, you’ll most likely have to wait six months to a year to re-apply. Don’t expect any feedback after your interview, but you can conclude that you either didn’t have enough experience or that it just wasn’t a fit culturally.
If you do receive a job offer, the hiring manager will call you to discuss salary, start date, etc.
WHAT'S DIFFERENT
System Design
You may face more than one system design interview question so make sure you prepare to the best of your abilities. It could make that difference between junior and senior software developer, meaning thousands of dollars in salary compensation.
Online Coding Assessment
Depending on how your first interview goes, the team may want to see you provide a little more examples on your coding abilities. If that's the case, be prepared to submit a coding challenge where you'll have around 75 minutes to complete a couple questions.
Need help preparing for the interview?
Check out the Definitive Interview Prep Roadmap,
written and reviewed by real hiring managers.