Macerich Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process included a phone screen and then three in-person interviews. The first few rounds were pretty standard interviews, but the final one was with upper management and felt more like a psychological experiment. They'd ask leading questions, like "Do you like a fun work environment?", and then pivot to something like "let me make sure you understand the role. It won't always be a fun environment". They were also completely poker-faced, not giving any reaction while I answered—no nods, no verbal cues, just a straight face and direct eye contact the whole time.

It took a while to schedule the interview with lots of phone calls back and forth. First, I spoke with an HR person. Then, a week later, I met with the same HR person again, this time along with someone from the Legal department. Even though it was a mid-level staff position, neither of them could really tell me much about the day-to-day responsibilities. They were pretty vague about the job and the company in general. The representatives were professional, but not exactly friendly or welcoming, and there seemed to be some tension between them. My impression was that the work environment might be stressful and competitive. When I walked through the office, nobody really acknowledged me or made eye contact. This is just my gut feeling based on the limited interactions I had with the company and its employees. I didn't hear back from them for about 3 to 4 weeks after the second interview. The company really stressed the importance of credit and background checks, mentioning it multiple times during both interviews. My advice to anyone applying would be to have plenty of documentation ready about your work history and achievements, as they don't seem to focus too much on those details during the interview itself.

The first interview was a Zoom call with someone from a different department, not my direct manager. It was a 30-minute get-to-know-you chat, and I got recommended for the next interview. The second interview was in person with the hiring manager, who would be my direct supervisor. We talked more about the job, how my experience fits, what would be expected, and the work schedule. I asked both about the salary range. The first person didn't know, which was fine. The second person gave a weird answer, saying only HR can discuss salary and we weren't at that stage yet. I felt like I'd already put in a lot of hours, and it's important to know if our expectations align before continuing. They mentioned the next step would be meeting senior leadership in about two weeks, and I'd be told if I made it to that round. It's been four weeks and I haven't heard anything.

I chatted with a recruiter first. Then I had a video interview for about an hour with the hiring manager for the building group. After that, I had an in-person interview with the team. The person who interviewed me was the previous person in the rendering role, so they had some great insights. The recruiter also submitted my name for a Tenant Coordination/PM role, so a PM team member was there too. That role involved more travel and wasn't as focused as I wanted at the time.