A total of (6) rounds including a project + presentation (unpaid) Won't mention names or specifics to keep anonymity. Round 1: Had an initial screener call with a recruiter over the phone. She was incredibly nice and professional, very informative and clear (30 minutes) Round 2: Zoom video call with the Hiring Manager/Senior designer whom I would be working with and reporting to. Asked tough but fair and important questions, yet was very easy to talk to. Kept things relaxed and comfortable. Seemed genuinely interested in my experience and background. Very honest and transparent with the position and the company overall (30-45 minutes) Round 3: Zoom call with a different Senior Designer from a different department who I wouldn’t be working with directly - no idea why I spoke and interviewed with this person. Overall was professional but very cold and didn’t show much interest in me as a candidate. Questions were pretty generic and seemed like they were pulled off Google. (20-25 minutes)

 Round 4: Zoom call with a Merchandiser who I would be working with. This person was nice overall but again didn’t show much interest in me as a candidate. Not the most professional, had faulty video and sound on their end maybe due to poor connection which made it very difficult to get a groove going. Also had huge dog(s) walking around making a lot of noise in the background of their apartment which made it very difficult on top of the connection issues to carry an interview. (20 minutes)

 NOTE: The round 3 & 4 interviewers looking back now seemed very dismissive - not interested at all and almost signed me off as a potential candidate even before the interview took place. 
Round 5: Zoom Call with the Design Director who was surprisingly easy to talk to and chill compared to the calls in round 3 & 4. I asked where they wanted to see the brand in 5 years and the answer given was very enthusiastic and passionate - enough to hype me up and want to join the team even more so to help reach these goals. Over all very professional yet pleasant and an easy going call (30 minutes)

 After the 5th round zoom call I was given a “small and quick” design project to sketch a collection of 12-15 styles along with all of my inspiration references and color palettes - yet was told not to spend more than a couple hours on it and I would present it to group - Hiring manager, other senior designer, merchandiser and design director. 

 Round 6 (FINAL ROUND): Zoom conference call with the entire group. Was told to share my screen with the presentation and to go ahead and start. Everyone’s microphone was muted during the presentation which made it feel very impersonal and disconnected with no dialogue other than my own. Once the presentation was over they each took turns giving comments, compliments and/or praise then thanked me for the presentation and said they’d discuss and get back with a decision. After a couple days I received a call from the initial recruiter who reported that the team unfortunately passed on me and decided to go with another candidate. I asked if the team had any pointers or criticism at all and she said the only notes given was that I lacked presentation skills and seemed uncomfortable.

Started out with 2 recruiting phone screens for different roles. Once that’s done the recruiter arranges a video interview with hiring manager. If you move through that round you proceed onto the loop interview with 2 interviewers back to back before they decide on your offer. Whole process took 4 months in total