After putting together and presenting a portfolio suited to the role, using data to support the outcomes myself and my teams had achieved on product work the feedback I received was that my presentation was “too sales-y” and that I should try again in 6 months. I genuinely don’t know what this means, especially in an interview setting for a new job (where your job is kind of to sell yourself, your work, your capabilities and suitability to the role and company). I have interviewed enough people to know this feedback was poor, subjective and not based on anything but opinion. I empathise with the interviewers knowing that you must be interviewing a lot of candidates back to back - but please remember what the experience is like for a candidate interviewing (particularly as someone from a mixed/diverse background). Strange to me as well that I was able to progress at other similar companies with a similar presentation but was unable to move past the first step at Canva. If it was a cultural fit - that’s okay but also wasn’t in any of the feedback I received. I think design interviewers need to step up their game and provide more substantial feedback. I absolutely adore the company, founders, vision and product (main reason I interviewed) but based on my experience won’t be interviewing here again.

1- Initial phone interview with the recruiter 2- Presenting one product design past work 3- Take-home product design exercise 4- Career chronology interview 5- Final interview with the Design manager I got rejected after the career chronology, although I aced all of my previous steps (based on their direct and afterward interview feedback sessions), which was very strange. They said I've got rejected because I said that I had to 'fight' for some ideas in my current company, which was just a poor choice of word by me. Although as a product designer in some situations, it's needed to stand for your research-backed and logical ideas. I've hadn't a single case of fight in my entire 8+ years of career. The case that they relied on one word to evaluate my communication skills after those extensive challenges like the task and case study presentation is bizarre and made me very disappointed. I even sent an email expressing my feedback and explaining what I meant by "fighting" and the interviewer didn't reply. At this point, I felt very frustrated because they could easily respond to a candidate who put much time and work into the interview process. I deserved a better response. The take-home task will cost you more than what they ask (2-3 hours). I hope they had the career chronology first and then ask for the exercise and past work presentations. And also find better ways to evaluate communication skills. The process took six weeks, and I put more than four days into the task and past work presentation combined.