PEP Interview Questions
& Process

This internship interview process was faster than others I was in. The first phone screen lasted around 45 minutes and had basic questions typical for an initial interview, like my five-year plans, goals, and past experiences. Soon after, I was invited for an in-person interview. This next stage included behavioral questions and a simulation involving planning and an email task. Everyone I met was really friendly and offered water since the on-site part was quite lengthy. I heard back about their decision within one to two weeks.

The interview process had 3 parts and took about 5 hours total. First, there was a 1-hour interview with background questions and resume clarifications. This went well, and the interviewer liked my military background, overseas leadership, business degree, software knowledge, and management experience. The second interview was 1 hour with HR/situational questions (like 'tell me about a time when...'). This also went well, and they liked my overseas leadership in the US Army, college projects, extracurricular leadership, and management experience running 3 stores with over 50 employees. The third part was a 3-hour interview with the Account Team (all women). It had 3 parts: First, a young Account Executive gave info about the company's history, employee programs, and benefits, and answered my job specifics and training questions. Second, a Sr. Account Executive gave me 2 activities. Activity 1 involved ordering 18 daily tasks, which I did well. Activity 2 required me to take notes on a recorded conference call, which I did very clearly. However, the interviewer said she wanted a handwritten professional email recap instead, which was not stated in the instructions. Third, the Account Team Supervisor asked basic questions like my strengths and weaknesses, similar to the first interview. She was short with me, and I felt I wasn't what she was looking for. When I asked about next steps, she said 'if' she would call me in about a month, and only 'if' they got authorization for the position. I was shocked given the time invested.

So, Pep, despite their silly name, think they're pretty great. The whole process, from applying online to the two phone interviews, took a full month. The interviews were both done by people in their mid-20s, so they're the ones deciding your fate. An intern schedules everything and uses a template that's wrong – it looks like she'll be talking to you, but she never does. They don't even tell you who you'll be talking to. And the rejection email from HR? Another template error; it says they enjoyed meeting me, but I never even went to the office. If I had gotten past the last stage, there would have been another hour-long phone interview.

I got an email and then had a phone interview. I was expecting to hear back within a week but didn't hear anything for about a month. I had to reach out to find out the status of my application and eventually got a rejection.