A recruiter from Uber contacted me after being referred to my LinkedIn profile, so not sure if this process is exactly the same for all applicants. The recruiter asked if I was interested in learning more about the position and when I said yes, the recruiter put me in contact with another person in charge of hiring. We had a short 30 minute conversation, mostly information about the position. I was then sent a link via email to a "test" that I had 2 hours to complete whenever I had time. It was a 5000 word research proposal outlining and explaining what I would do to increase driver satisfaction and loyalty. This was then sent to the head of the research team who evaluates the test. I was then contacted and told the head of research team wanted to talk with me, so we set up a 45 minute phone conversation. Most of the questions were related to my interest and fit for the job, with only maybe one research-related question (what would I do if I didn't have total research control - I come from a lab-based PhD research program). A lot of the emphasis was on making sure it would be a job that I wanted to do. After that I later found out I did not move onto the final interview stage (an in-person panel interview at hq). I requested feedback and they were nice enough to provide some - said other people seemed more excited about the job than me and that it seemed I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Left open the opportunity to get back in touch once I had figured out what direction I was heading (industry, academia, etc.)

The conversation with HR and hiring manager went very well. The next round was asking me to work on a case and sent back my code and PowerPoint to them within 48 hours. They sent me rejection letter a week later. I'm really frustrated with their feedback. They want to hire someone with some kind of skills. The case I worked on had nothing to do with those skills. Every candidate spends lots of time and makes every effort to prepare for job interviews. PLEASE respect other's time and effort.