San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Interview Questions
& Process

This organization is consensus-driven. All interviews are reviewed by internal hiring panels, who act as cross-functional advisors to the hiring manager. The more senior the role, the more people, staff, and trustees will interview the 1-2 final candidates. For this director-level role, I interviewed with 9 people, including the vice chair of the board, the executive director, multiple curators, and other key cross-functional partners.

So I applied and then the HR team at the museum checked out my application. They looked at my resume and cover letter and my experience to see if I was a good fit. I made it past that, so they set up a phone or video call with me. It was a chat with HR or a hiring manager about my background, my past work, and why I wanted to work there. Then they wanted me to come in person for another interview. I met with a bunch of people there, like team members and department heads. I got to talk about my skills and experience and how they fit the job. It was kinda scary but I was ready.

I applied online and heard back from HR in under a week. We then set up a 20-minute phone chat with some general questions and a few specific to the museum and the role. The interviewer was super nice, which helped me relax. A couple of days later, I got invited to an interview fair at the museum. This involved a group interview with about 15 other candidates, followed by a one-on-one with a manager. While it was a good experience and everyone was friendly, I felt I didn't get to showcase my background enough and faced some disadvantages. Since SFMOMA was hiring over 100 people, it felt a bit impersonal after the initial phone call.

I submitted an application online. Then I got a phone call for an interview, and I talked with the registrar for about half an hour. She kept saying how much they needed to fill the position and that my background was a perfect match. After that, I set up a second phone interview with HR. The HR person asked me to talk about my experience. As I was explaining, she cut me off and accused me of reading from a paper and rehearsing my answers. She ended the interview right then. I wasn't reading anything, and she was pretty rude. I didn't hear back from them.