I went through two phone interviews, an in-person and a homework assignment/presentation. The process took 8 weeks. The recruiter was a fill-in for the full-time recruiter who was on maternity leave. I've had better support from other internal recruiters. The in-person interview consisted of six, 30-minute 1-on-1 interviews. I met with designers from my potential team, peers from other teams, and the head of design. This was exhausting but I made it through! I was invited back to meet with the supervisor for this role for another 1-on-1 a week later. After a couple weeks I was invited for the final round to do their homework assignment. I had heard about homework assignments but had never done one. I was given a week to complete and asked to redesign one of their brands according to a new positioning. I was asked to present 2-3 concepts that included packaging, point-of-sale and social media executions. In my opinion, this was egregious. If you have a job, you will need to call in sick for a week to do this. I had one hour to present my homework assignment and answer several other questions focused on my management style. I presented 3 full concepts with several alts and extensions. I also included a lot of my research and strategic thinking. I was trying to focus more on that as I feel with any client you don't just present work without including them in the process. I tried to underline that I would work with my team to push some of these ideas further and welcome feedback to improve. I realize following they were more interested in seeing my craft and less about my process or thinking. I was also asked to outline my 90-day plan as Design Director. This role is outlined as primarily a leadership role. I spent a fair share here and talking about my observations on the opportunities to help the team as it grows. And finally I was asked to demonstrate or talk about how I would keep People Against Dirty (PAD) weird. This is their cultural fit question. I did something that felt like I was in my elementary school talent show. I did this first as an ice breaker and it did help to get that out of the way. I think it's nice to show your lighter side. However, culturally they do not come off as a weird bunch. I left feeling that I had done well. I was told by one of the leaders that I had clearly put a lot of time and effort and showed really good thinking and work. The rejection call came a few days later. The feedback I was given did not jive. Instead of telling me my homework assignment was not up to par, I was told something else. Perhaps the recruiter got her notes mixed up.