I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Zalando (Berlin) in Dec 2019
Interview
Step 1 - Interview with HR on telephone - friendly individual on the phone - basic HR questions (tell me a bit about yourself, your experience etc) (30mins long)
Step 2 - Interview with one of the Teamleads (open positions on both Men & Womens categories) via conference call on laptop. This particular Teamlead was nice and friendly - had a good Q&A session (45mins long)
Step 3 - On-site Berlin interview with a different Teamlead and the Head of Department. First the Teamlead introduced themselves, gave me a case study (I was not told about any case study - bad planning on Zalando`s part even after I specifically asked/emailed upfront enquiring whether there would be any test/case study etc - - they advised no there would not be) and then exited the room. Case study was poorly constructed, not enough explanation just a table with numbers, sales etc and a lot of Zalando jargon/terms (some form of glossary explaining terms would have been helpful).
After the case study, the Teamlead & Head entered the room, they were both a bit clueless regarding the role as they said it would change and they couldn`t tell me what it would actually look like in 3 - 6 months. In terms of interview questions, I did most of the question asking. Teamlead was distracted most of the time and she spent majority of the interview drawing on my CV (NOT taking notes or writing but actually colouring in letters in my name/surname). At least feign some form of interest if you have a candidate in front of you (1hr long)
Step 4 - straight after the interview with Teamlead & Head of Department, I had an interview again with HR. Standard HR questions asked e.g give me examples of your achievements/scenarios you have had /experienced that relate to our company values. (30mins long)
After the whole interview process was done and dusted, HR advised as I was leaving the building that I would get feedback even if I did not get the job. I emailed my thanks to the HR and was told good luck (on the same day! - pretty much knew at that point I was not getting the job). I then received a few days later a generic email saying "we tried to call you but you were not available, unfortunately you did not get the job". I never received a phone call nor did I ever receive the feedback on my interview.
Over all I would advise Zalando to train their hiring managers on interview techniques.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
HR interviews involved basic questions, give me an example of how you embody our core values, strengths, weaknesses etc.
Virtual interview with one of the Teamleads had standard questions, explain what you can/cannot impact within this role, what are key advantages to a brand if they onboard with Zalando etc.
Interview with Head of Department & Teamlead involved a case study which they sprung on me without actually advising this was a step. Questions incl. analyse data sets, look at performance on this sheet and tell us if it is good/bad etc (20min to do the case study).