Applied directly to role, heard back from Recruiter w/in 3wks of application. Initial Recruiter call was straight forward- describe experience and salary/ pay expectations, here's what the process looks like, etc (it was rather read off the script-ish, but thats not a huge deal). Moved on to a 45min interview with Hiring Manager soon after, and then panel interviews with 4 others quickly after that. Everyone I met with was great and seemed to really love what they do and working for Starbucks. Recruiter told me to prepare for Behavioral Qs only, but only half of interviewers stuck with that.
One asked me more situational type questions (e.g., "how would you handle XYZ?" or "what methodologies/ tools are you accustomed to?") and left a lot of time at the end for my Qs. 2 interviews with a single behavioral Q were more conversational where it started with a "Tell me about a time when..." type question that flowed into thoughtful follow up Qs and eventually just rolled into natural conversation about the space we work in. Although they only asked 1 core Q, i enjoyed these interviews the most as their follow up Qs allowed me to showcase me at my best. The last was more awkward as they tended to keep to a script and weren't comfortable deviating from the 8-9 Qs they wrote down, and they had no follow up Qs for any of my answers (which felt odd).
After finishing interviews, the Recruiter said the wait would be 2-3wks before i heard back because they were still interviewing other candidates- which seems unreasonable. And then, instead of a call or an email from the recruiter to let me know the hiring decision, I got an auto-email from a no-reply address saying I wasn't selected and encouraged me to apply for other roles (similar to one you'd get if your application was rejected). I'm disappointed in the team's decision as the role seemed like a great fit, but I understand if they wanted to go in a different direction. However, ending the process on that note felt rather dismissive and impersonal.
I would have given the interview process an overall positive review if it wasn't for the drastic difference in interview format coupled with the experience from last leg of the process; which proved to be the most frustrating aspect.