applying to robinhood as a new grad in 2026. the job market is brutal and robinhood is one of the few fintech companies still doing new grad hiring, so i've been researching this obsessively. here's everything i've put together.
the process for new grads: resume screen codesignal OA (two problems, 70 minutes) phone screen with recruiter if you pass, a condensed technical loop (usually 2-3 rounds not the full 5)
the condensed loop for new grads i've seen reported is: one coding round (medium difficulty, sometimes two problems), one behavioral/values round, and sometimes a shorter system design at a more appropriate level (they're not going to ask a new grad to design distributed systems, more like 'design a simple URL shortener').
what matters for a new grad without experience:
algorithms and data structures: this is where most of the signal comes from because you don't have years of work to discuss. LC medium is the bar. arrays, strings, trees, graphs, dynamic programming, two pointers, sliding window. if you're solid on those you can pass the OA.
behavioral stories: new grads always panic about this but you have more material than you think. class projects, internships, part-time jobs, open source contributions, hackathons. they're not expecting you to have led a team of engineers. they want to see that you can reflect on your experiences and communicate clearly.
why robinhood: do not generic-answer this. use the actual product, mention their 24-hour trading feature or their options education tools or their goal to expand financial access. show you've thought about the mission beyond the branding.
i haven't interviewed yet, still in OA prep mode. will update this post when i have more.