I interviewed for 2 designer roles. The first round included 2 phone interviews, a test project, and a final round of 4- 45 min zoom interviews with different team members. This was a lengthy and time consuming process, but everything seemed to be going well. I was eventually informed that they went with another candidate and was basically told I was over qualified for an associate role (they knew my experience from the beginning), and although, they’d be “honored to welcome me to Target”, they thought a mid level design role would be better suited for me and would love to “socialize my information” to other departments. A couple months later I was asked to interview again for a mid level design role. This again involved 2 phone interviews, a new test project, and 4-45 min final round zoom interviews. (I will add I had to wait 1 month between each interview round and the total process took 3 months). Although, I was hesitant from the last interview process, I was told “we want you at Target” so I decided to continue with the final round project and zoom interviews. I even had to interview again with one of the same people I had for the previous role. After the final round, I was told I’d hear back in 2 weeks because someone was out of town. I didn’t hear anything. After 3 weeks I reached out for an update and didn’t hear anything. I reached out 1 more time after 4 weeks and finally heard back that they went with another candidate (no explanation or feedback). Although the recruiter and everyone I met with were very kind, the whole process felt unnecessarily grueling and duplicitous with little respect for my time and effort.

The interview process consisted of a hand full of calls both with the hiring manager and recruiter. The final candidates had to submit an example project and final interview presenting it.

My interview was an average experience, comprising both situational questions and a technical round. While I handled the situational questions fairly well, the technical round presented some challenges. Overall, it was balanced, but I believe I could have performed better in certain areas to make a stronger impression.