I applied online and emailed an in-house recruiter. I applied early December, so right before the holidays.
I went through a series of phone interviews before getting turned down. Here's what I went through:
- 30 minute phone call with the recruiter. Basic questions about who I am, what I'm looking for.
- 30 minute phone chat with the hiring manager, Product Design Manager. Went well, more granular design questions, but just a phone call.
- 30 minute phone chat with the Head of Design. This is where things got a little surprising. The Design Manager told me the call with Head of Design would be more UX focused questions, but that's all. Half way through, HoD asked me to walk him through one of my portfolio projects, with no heads up, no screen share, just HoD scrolling my website and me talking through on the phone. Not the best scenario. So I did my best with the surprise.
Of course, I didn't get through to the next round because I wasn't prepared properly for the portfolio review. I have a keynote, rehearsed and ready, but for a 30 minute walkthrough. Not a 10 minute phone chat. -_-; I also got mixed messages about how the interview process was supposed to proceed (scheduling mishaps, length of calls changing, the sequence of steps switching around, etc).
I will note that the recruiter was the most communicative recruiter I interacted with during December.