Birchbox Interview Questions
& Process

I interviewed for a summer internship and was blown away at the level of unprofessionalism. The recruiter called 20 minutes late and didn't even apologize. Throughout the entire interview, I could tell she had a judgmental demeanor and due to that, I became very uncomfortable and knew immediately that this was not where I wanted to work for. Still sent a follow up to thank her for her time, where I later received a half-assed rejection at midnight. Sure it's better to get a rejection than no response, but honestly this was one of those cases where I was better off never hearing from her again.

The easiest job application process I have been through - attach resume and cover letter and click "Submit." I spent all of 2015 looking for jobs and going through pages and pages of ridiculously long job applications. I am all about efficiency, so I loved applying to Birchbox. A week after submitting my application online, I received an email from the People & Culture team (this is their HR team). I had a phone screening that day with the same person from P&C, had a phone interview with a team member the following week, and went through 2 rounds of in-person interviews which took about 3 hours each time. My last round of interviews concluded with going out for coffee with my future team members, which was a nice touch! All in all, from the time I submitted my application to the time I received a job offer took a total of exactly 4 weeks. I had another job offer at the same time (right before the Thanksgiving holiday), so I really appreciate everyone at Birchbox who worked very quickly in order to finalize my offer, in spite of the holiday.

The process started with a call from someone who described the role and asked me to walk through my resume. I thought it went well, and I was invited to a second interview. About a week later, I had this second interview, but the call dropped mid-conversation. After several tries, I got through to a receptionist who directed me to email the person who set up the interview. While I was emailing, the interviewer called back and we resumed the conversation. I felt the second interview also went okay, and she indicated she would be in touch about the next steps. However, on that same day, I received a non-reply email stating they had chosen another candidate. It felt like a waste of my time, especially since they likely decided before even speaking with me. This experience was disappointing.

Applied online and a few days later got an email to set up a call. The phone interview was quick and painless, with typical questions. Then, I was sent an Excel project to complete within 24 hours. It was fairly simple if you know what you're doing. After that, I had a call to come in the following week and meet with 3 managers. The interviews were super casual, almost too casual, which put me off. One person was googling questions to ask me and reading them off a sheet, saying she'd never done this before. Another interviewer asked analytical math questions totally unrelated to the position. There was also some confusion with the schedule, and I didn't get to meet with the HR lady who set everything up. Overall, it felt unprofessional, almost like a joke. I know it's a startup with faults, but hiring should be more serious.