Bi-Rite Market Interview Questions
& Process

I had a phone chat with the recruiter. They wanted to know about my past work and how it fit what they needed for this job. They asked about how I've handled employee problems, ways to build up our company culture, and if I speak Spanish.

We began with a brief phone screen, and following that, they set up an in-person interview. During the same interview block, I spoke with various team members in both one-on-one and group settings.

I had a two-part interview process. The initial contact was with a recruiter who asked typical entry-level questions. They also asked about Bi-Rite's social media presence and examples of social media I admired, which was a bit unexpected given the job didn't focus on social media design. Next, I interviewed with the creative services manager, who was the hiring manager. This conversation felt a little formal and rigid, with phrases like 'my next question is...' and 'thank you for your answer, moving on.' It was a bit strange. During both interviews, the interviewers seemed disengaged because they spent a lot of time writing down my answers, leading to awkward silences. The second interview was on Zoom, and the manager had poor eye contact as they were typing my responses on a separate screen. Strangely, for a graphic design role, my portfolio was never discussed, and they didn't seem to reference it when I talked about my past work. While I didn't get the job, I felt a lack of connection with the interviewers.

The interview process was very thorough. I had a phone interview with two HR people and the owner. Then, I had an in-person interview that lasted over an hour. What was upsetting is I found out (through my network) that a former colleague told them not to hire me because she mistakenly thought I dated her ex-boyfriend. She found out I was interviewing and waited outside to intercept me before my interview. I didn't know she had negative feelings towards me until a mutual friend told me she advised them against hiring me. The manager mentioned during our interview that it was the best interview he had ever had and that he hoped to work out my schedule for the following week. He never called, and after I followed up, he informed me that they decided to give the position to an internal candidate. I'm a native San Franciscan and have great respect for the family that owns Bi-Rite, but I hope you will reconsider judging someone's character based on high school-like rumors. It was very disheartening and a major letdown. I thought this company prioritized 'hiring local,' but it seems that's not the case.