Academy Sports + Outdoors Operations Manager interviews, decoded.

I was an internal candidate, so I skipped the initial recruiter call. My first interview was with the store director, and then I had a second interview with the district manager. The office space was pleasant and quiet. The Academy's Human Resources Department structured the questions, and the whole thing took about one to two hours.

They start with a phone screening to check basic info like availability and current employment. After that, they'll schedule an interview. For management roles, you'll interview with the Store Director. If you pass that, you might have a final interview with the District Manager, though sometimes the Store Director makes the final call without DM involvement.

It was a pretty standard interview about management skills, communication, dealing with underperformers, and achieving business objectives. The store director was nice but seemed like they'd already made up their mind.