The process of being hired into a company generally involves several
steps, and might take days or weeks. Don’t be surprised if the process
seems agonizingly long to you; to the company, this is just one of
the many things they are engaged in, and a few weeks can be a relatively
short period to them.
The first step, after they have reviewed your resume and selected you as a candidate, is to do an initial, or screening interview. This might be with someone from Human Resources, with the hiring manager, with one or more members of a search committee, or with a group of people who would be your co-workers.
You might be asked to meet with one or more of these people in the same day, in a series of interviews. When the company initially calls to invite you to interview, you will generally be told who you are meeting with and the time-frames. Write down this information and bring it with you. If possible, look up the interviewer’s name on the company’s website. This might give you valuable insight into the person’s role in the company, and might even provide you with a photo of him or her.
The company will most likely be interviewing several people at this
stage. You can ask your primary interviewer, at the close of the interview,
what their time-frame is or what the next steps will be. Due to scheduling
difficulties, it might be a while before their first-round interviews
with all candidates will be completed. Once they have interviewed
all candidates in the first round, interviewers will discuss who from
the first group should be brought back for a second round.
For entry-level positions, two rounds of interviews is generally the norm. You might, however, encounter situations where you are asked to participate in three or more rounds of interviews. Any number or combination of interviewers might be involved. Needless to say, each level of interview you pass through means you are that much closer to getting the job, and one of an ever-decreasing number of candidates.
If you are under serious consideration you will, at some point, have an interview with Human Resources. If this comes at the end of, and not the beginning of the process, the company is most likely considering making you an offer.
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