How to Get a Job at Notion

Notion Details & History

Notion is a trendy organization tool that allows people to create and manage productivity things like notes, tasks, wikis and databases in a single spot. Notion 1.0 was released in 2013 by 4 team members Chris Prucha, Jessica Lam, Simon Last and Toby Schachman. Notion 2.0 is the version we know now, which was released in 2018.  

Notion's mission is to create a single tool to replace all other applications (one tool to rule them all?). Notion is a freemium product, meaning that it has a paid version but anyone can access a free version with less features. We here at Bridged are active Notion evangelizers, and recommend using the tool for a week or two to get familiar before pursing a job at the company. Who knows-- you might get hooked and become a productivity machine.

Notion Office Locations

Notion, like other big tech companies is headquartered is in San Francisco, California. They are very clear they do not allow remote work for collaboration purposes, and have this disclaimer on almost every role:

Notion is an in person company, and currently requires its employees to come to the office for two Anchor Days (Mondays & Thursdays) and requests that employees spend the majority of their week in the office (including a third day).

Notion's Primary Competitors

The productivity market is always hot, and Notion has their work cut out for them. In terms of productivity tracking, ASANA is really taking the cake with the customized workflows. For documentation, Atlassian's Confluence is a key player. Notion is unique because it allows all of this to be put together in one place, but we haven't seen the industry adapt as quickly as we were expecting.

Top Notion Departments for Entry-Level Roles

• Product
• Marketing
• Operations
• Sales

Diversity at Notion

Notion does self-report breakdowns of underrepresented groups, which we'll recap here.

As of Feb 2022, 48% of Notion's commercial and operations teams and 33% of their tech workforce identify as non-male. 10% of their team identifies as LGBTQ+, and their average age is 32. Learn more about diversity at Notion here.

Is remote work allowed at Notion?

No! As mentioned before, Notion has one of the stricter stances on remote work in big tech. Notion is specifically hybrid, and requires employees to come into the office at least 3 times a week.

Does Notion have good benefits?

In a word, yes. We've ranked their benefits package a 6/10-- we docked 2 points for their stance on remote work with how expensive SF is. Some perks include:

• Free lunch & snacks in the office
• FULLY covered health insurance
• 4% match on 401k
• $50 cell phone stipend
• 4 months of maternity leave
• Access to Carrot Fertility services
• Monthly activity stipend

Who is Notion looking to hire?

Notion values people of all backgrounds (see: diversity goals) to create community in their workforce. They especially seek out those who demonstrate their company values.

Notion Company Values

• Be an owner of the mission.
• Be a pace setter.
• Be a truth seeker.
• Be kind and direct.

Notion Interview Process

Notion actually is very upfront about their interview processes, which we love to see. They break their interview types into 2 main buckets-- technical and business. We know you're looking for a tech role, so we'll review the technical rounds.

Round 1 Interview at Notion: Recruiter Screen

A recruiter screen is extremely normal for larger companies to vet you for the role you're applying for. They will ask some "screener questions," often written by the hiring manager, to try and weed out the applicants who are not qualified to save everyone time. Expect to talk about previous experiences that mimic the wording in the job description.

Round 2 Interview at Notion: Technical Assessment

This will vary based on your position. This is a 60-minute rounds with a Notion counterpart to see how you think about solving problems. They'll be looking for things like critical thinking, thought processes, problem solving capabilities, and teamwork styles. If it's an engineering role, expect a coding challenge.

Round 3 Interview at Notion: Team Interviews

This is a 4-hour block of interviews at 1-hour intervals.

If you're going out for an engineering role, expect 2 of the 4 interviews to be additional coding challenges.

Round 4 Interview at Notion: Final Interview(s)

This is 45 minutes with a member of Notion's leadership team. It's focused on culture fit, values and behaviors.

Notion Internship Program

Notion does not have a specific or super-public internship program, but we've scouted internship job listings as recent as winter 2023. The program is 12 weeks long, and assigns candidates to mentors to help fully develop critical skills. We were able to find their listing on startup.jobs , and this seems like a good time to tell you about that job board. Keep an eye out!

Notion Associate Product Manager (APM) Program

As far as we could tell, Notion does not have or participate in an associate product manager program.

We have a tried-and-true process to help our Bridged readers get hired. It's 5 primary steps, but the meatiest is finding ways to get specific experience. Read on for recommendations.

Identify Your Target Role

Do your research, through Bridged or another company, to identify roles that may align well with your interests and core competencies. You can start here with our review of Best Entry-Level Tech Jobs to explore some options.

Explore Ways to Get Experience

There are lots of ways to gain job experience without being on the job. Bridged gives several recommendations in our Job Guides for each job, but you can start by exploring programs like Coursera or Udemy to get valuable, resume-ready certifications from reputable sources.

Use Jobscan to Optimize Your Resume

We've written a whole article about this, but you'd be surprised how many resumes NEVER see the eyes of a human! That's because of a pesky-little thing called an Applicant Tracking System (or ATS for short) that scans and ranks resumes based on their matchability to the job descriptions. Unfortunately, a lot of these programs are outdated, and won't pick up the best candidates! Jobscan helps you get around this with comprehensive resume scanning and improvement recommendations. Get our full review writeup here.

Use Linkedin Premium to Find and Reach out to Notion Recruiters

Roles these days, especially entry-level roles, are pretty competitive. There's no getting around it. However, showing you have the chutzpah to reach out shows wonders.

Premium subscriptions allow you to view more profiles and send more Inmails to locate and reach out to a recruiter that works on an area that hosts your target roles. Be funny, and emphasize the work you've done to match with their company. Mention Notion's values, and how you'd relate. A little human connection works wonders.

And Finally: Be Patient

It's a weird world out there in the job market. Everyone is getting rejections. Don't let it get to you, and keep upskilling in the process. Someday you'll see you're exactly where you need to be, and on the right path. Good luck!

Notion is a great target company for an entry-level tech role, especially if you don't mind being in-person and in San Francisco. Be persistent, and keep applying to roles that match with your core competancies. You've got this.

Here at Bridged we are huge fans of stacking micro-certifications to achieve desired career results. We're building a product to make your career planning fun and affordable, and we'd love to talk to YOU! Was this article helpful? Did you land an interview at Notion?

Let us know at hello@getbridged.co