How to Get a Job at Square

Square Details & History

Square was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. They are a popular fintech company that offers a plethora of payment and financial services-- but are most well known for their Square Point of Sale mobile application. This app allows businesses of any size to accept credit card payments, track inventory, and manage their sales. Odds are, you've swiped with a Square reader this week.

Square also offers services such as Square Capital, which provides funding to small businesses, and Square Cash, a peer-to-peer payment service.

Square Office Locations

Square's headquarters, like most big tech companies, is located in San Francisco, California. Square has other US office locations in Oakland, Seattle, New York, Atlanta, St.Louis, and Scottsdale.
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Square's footprint extends globally, and their other offices are spread across a couple continents in Dublin, London, Toronto, Melbourne, and Tokyo.

Square's Primary Competitors

Square's main competitors are PayPal, Stripe and Shopify.

Stripe is leading the pack in online payment processing, while Square dominates the small/medium business financial sector. PayPal leads in peer-to-peer payments.

Top Square Departments for Entry-Level Roles

• Product
• Marketing
• UX Design
• Engineering

Diversity at Square

Square self reports on diversity and inclusion on an annual basis, including things like updated goals and progress made. Women make up 42% of their overall workforce, and 28% of their leadership team.

They list several other diversity factors in the report, but it's important to call out that 48% of their workforce in 2022 self-identified as non-white.

Is remote work allowed at Square?

Yeehaw, yes it is. In addition to their several offices, Square supports a full time work-from-home policy.

Does Square have good benefits?

In a word, yes. We've ranked their benefits package a 7/10. Some unique perks besides healthcare, 401k match (50% match on 5k), and remote work:

• Unlimited PTO and sick time (a pro or con, depending on your stance)
• 16 weeks of BOTH maternity and paternity leave (!!)
• Pet insurance
• $75/month in gym/wellness reimbursement
• $125/month in cell phone/internet reimbursement

Who is Square looking to hire?

Square values people of all backgrounds to create community in their workforce. They especially seek out those who demonstrate their company values. We actually found these values to be pretty sus (shareholder value?) but c’est la vie.

Square Company Values

• Diversity
• Inclusion
• Innovation
• Shareholder Value
• Customer Happiness

Square Interview Process

The interview process for Square heavily depends on what position you're going out for. Expect a completely virtual process that lasts around 3 rounds and 2-4 weeks. If you're going out for a technical role, expect to have a peer-programming assignment to assess technical abilities. They outline their interview process here, but we've also laid out the basics for you.

Round 1 Interview at Square: 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 Square: Team Interview

There will be a mix of technical and behavioral questions in this round. Expect to meet with several potential team members in a 360-like process and a couple cross-functional folks. 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 couple coding challenges.

Round 3 Interview at Square: Cast Study Presentation (and Peer Programming)

This used to be an onsite, but now it's conducted virtually. If interviewing for a business role, you'll be asked to complete a project relevant to the role-- usually a business case study or portfolio walkthrough. If you're going out for a technical position, there are some peer-to-peer challenges as well. There's lots of feedback out there that Square interviews are some of the most fun in the industry, especially for software engineers.

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It's no surprise Square offers an internship program. It's part of their "emerging talent" focus. does offer an internship program for undergraduates, but they don't give a lot of information about start dates and criteria on their internship site. In fact, they're hiring several interns for 2023 right now!

Their interns work on real projects and have great mentorship and next-level opportunities.

Square Associate Product Manager (APM) Program

Square is a participating company in the Kleiner-Perkins (KP) Fellows program. KP is a prestigious venture capital firm that selects several high-achieving graduates and assigns them to a high-growth tech company for one year to get experience as a product manager. Some other KP participants: Pinterest, Airbnb, and Doordash.

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 Square 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 Square'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!

Square is a great target company for an entry-level tech role. Be persistent, and keep applying. 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 Square?

Let us know at hello@getbridged.co