I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Symetra (Bellevue, WA) in Oct 2014
Interview
Very professional throughout.
I cold applied to the job via their career website. I was contacted by an internal recruiting manager about 2 weeks later for a 30 minute phone screen. Very professional and targeted questions - salary expectations, what is my management style, even a few technical screen questions specific to the role. Immediately upon completing the phone screen I was told that a second phone screen would be set up with the hiring manager.
The hiring manager was going on holiday, so the next stage got delayed by about a week. This was relatively informal, more of a conversation to ensure we are on the same page in terms of expectations and requirements.
A couple days later, I was invited for an onsite team interview. HR gave me names of the people I would be talking with.
I met with a total of three managers in two different meetings, including the person I spoke with on the phone. The first hour was with two managers I had not spoken with before. It felt a little like good cop/bad cop. One of the managers was their 'details' guy and pressed a little on the technical/job-specific requirements. The other guy asked more about soft skills. A mix of behavioral questions ("tell me about a time when") and more general and common questions such as "what are your strengths and weaknesses?" I learned in this interview about some additional expectations for the role - not totally unexpected but a larger part of the role than I had anticipated. I struggled a bit to address the concerns as I wasn't prepared for this line of questioning.
I then met with the manager I spoke with on the phone. This was essentially a continuation of our earlier phone conversation, in order to learn more about the role and my skills. I think he asked maybe one direct question.
Some of the managers would be traveling the following week, so I was told that it would be a couple weeks before I would hear back.
Exactly on schedule, I received an email from the original HR recruiter that the team to pursue a candidate who was a better fit for the role.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time when you managed to a quantifiable SLA.
I went through 8 rounds of interviews. Nice people but a huge waste of time. 30-minutes on average and way too many people involved. I would not apply to this company again.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They asked me about my philosophy on leadership and I received very positive feedback from the HR Senior I was interviewed by.