Zulily Supply Chain Analyst Interview Questions
& Process

This interview experience was really something else, a mix of good and bad. I was told a few things that turned out not to be true. It felt like discrimination, which I haven't really experienced before. It seemed like they either thought I was too qualified for the job or they'd hire someone internal who wasn't as qualified. Looking at LinkedIn, the recent hires for this position had less experience, less education, and were the opposite sex. I didn't feel the need to go further. I think I could have filed a complaint with the BBB because there's legislation against discrimination based on age, sex, gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. I never got a chance to prove myself to anyone who could make a decision. After a phone screening and a great Excel test, the recruiter said they'd have the buying team reach out for a final interview, but then I was ghosted. It's frustrating because my education and experience really fit what this job needs. Overall, my experience with zulily was unprofessional, offensive, and misleading. My advice: stay objective in hiring, remember it affects your bottom line. Communication is key – be consistent and make the right impression. Get organized with your hiring process; it seemed chaotic and disorganized. The last I heard was that everything looked good and they'd set up the final interview, then nothing. It's like high school behavior. Zulily is a public company, and shareholders should know. If this isn't discrimination, why waste my time until that point without even comparing me to other applicants? It really makes me question if it's sexism, and I won't stand for it. Zulily lost a customer and a chance to improve their hiring team. It's not my loss.

It started with an email questionnaire, then an online retail math and excel test which was pretty easy. After passing that, I went to the Seattle office for interviews with two really nice and friendly teams. The interviews were straightforward and situational, with a focus on open dialogue and answering my questions thoroughly. The second interview ran late because we got talking. The recruiter then let me know an offer was coming but might take a few days for approvals, keeping me updated daily on the progress and reasons for delay, which was really great. We negotiated the salary, and I got my offer letter. The whole thing took about 3.5 weeks.

I attended a recruiting event for the Zulily Assistant Buyer role at their office. My appointment was at 11:30 am, and I was called in around 11:45 am. I got a quick office tour on the way to a computer area where others were taking tests. We were given instructions (about 8-10 formatting steps and 8-10 calculations) and about 5 formulas (like Zulily cost, MSRP). An Excel sheet was open with instructions on one tab and the test on another. When I asked if I could read the directions first, I was told I was already being timed, which wasn't communicated beforehand. The test was timed for 30 minutes, after which we had to close our computers. Someone then took us to check our work. The recruiting staff wore matching purple t-shirts saying 'work at the zu'. The person who checked my work seemed insincere. She said my calculations were correct but I had formatting errors, leading to my failure. You can retake the test once, but failing twice means a 6-month ban. When I asked for feedback on errors, she suggested I 'think about it in my head.' I suspect I'd fail again due to unclear feedback. The test felt unprofessional, unlike what I expected with automatic scoring. The directions were confusing, even with my Excel experience from previous jobs and research. The column references in the directions didn't always match the spreadsheet, forcing me to guess the intended columns (e.g., 'Zulily Sale Price' wasn't a column header). We calculated wholesale cost, revenue, profit, and zulily sale price. The calculations themselves were simple, using basic math and Excel formulas. The provided formula sheet wasn't very helpful due to unclear acronyms; intuition and basic math were more effective. Formatting was the main challenge.