RH Designer Interview Questions
& Process

Applied for a design role, went through interviews over weeks. Had a phone screen, then in-person and video interviews with the team, and finished with a design presentation. I tried my best on the presentation even with limited resources like a vague brief, no access to RH’s CAD library, and hard-to-read screenshots for scale and furniture. My concept fit RH’s style and I was open to feedback. But the feedback felt like a final client review, not an initial one. The subjective feedback was used immediately during the interview to say I wasn’t “ready” for a design role, which was surprising given my extensive experience designing, managing, and installing complex interior projects, many featured in design publications, which were more involved than this role. I showed my portfolio early on, which led to the design prompt. But the verbal offer was for a lower-paying retail position, totally different from the designer role we discussed. It felt like a bait and switch. Also, an interviewer was 30 minutes late, making things seem disorganized and disrespectful of my time. My advice is: be clear about the roles you’re hiring for. If it’s retail, say so upfront. For design presentations, give candidates the right tools, clear expectations, and useful feedback. Don’t make quick judgments after candidates put in a lot of effort. And pay designers with CAD skills and experience what they’re worth.

I started interviewing with RH towards the end of October 2024 for a few design positions. The initial chats or Zooms were handled by Associate Gallery Leaders who mostly lacked interior design or significant furniture background, coming more from retail like Sports Authority, Gap, or Zara. These calls seemed to follow a pattern: they'd introduce themselves and then ask a couple of questions about me. Some interactions felt lively, while others seemed like they were just going through the motions as part of their duties. After two months, I submitted a design assignment that took a week, paid for my own travel to an in-person interview, and spent my Christmas break re-learning Autocad because Revit wasn't accepted. Following six interviews, a VP I hadn't encountered during the entire two-month process decided I wasn't enthusiastic enough when answering repetitive questions and reviewing my assignment for a second time via Zoom against a plain white RH backdrop. I should mention, I have over eighteen years of design experience and have held similar design management roles twice earlier in my career. I found the whole process to be very inefficient and disrespectful of my time. In the end, I suspect my age might have been a factor since I seemed to meet their other criteria. Or maybe it was because I inquired about turning a restaurant patron into a design client, and the suggested method was to provide them with samples to take home. As an experiment, I visited five different RH locations incognito and was never asked any questions or offered samples. It seems to me that the new RH Gallery business model isn't efficient and might not be a good fit for an experienced designer with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Me llegó una invitación y tuve la entrevista con dos personas, una de HR y la otra una manager. La entrevista fue llevadera, pero yo no estaba muy interesada en la posición debido a los horarios, que eran de 11 a 9 de la noche, lo cual me parecía una locura.