I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Powell's Books (Portland, OR) in Dec 2010
Interview
I attempted to apply to numerous other positions in the company, all of which I was denied for, except for my initial hire. Things changed after management changed though. Now, they'll interview you on the phone first to see if you have a good phone voice. Then they'll bring you in, usually one or two people will interview you. Then they'll ask you about your customer service experience, how you would deal with certain situations, and if you can give an example of how you provided good customer service experience in the past.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Powell's Books (Portland, OR) in Oct 2015
Interview
First round was a group interview with 5-7 people. The two interviewers asked each person the same question, and we went around the table, taking turns answering. After everyone had answered, the person next to whomever answered the last question first had to answer the next question first.
Callbacks involved a 2 person panel interview where both interviewers took turns asking the interviewee a question (some questions had follow-up questions). After the 6 main questions, there were scenario described, and the interviewee had to describe how they would handle the situation.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time you experienced or witnessed good customer service.
Contact Center applicants have rated the interview process at Powell's Books with 3.5 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 50% positive. To compare, the company-average is 69% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Contact Center roles take an average of 14 days to get hired, when considering 2 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Powell's Books overall takes an average of 13 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Powell's Books as a Contact Center according to 2 Glassdoor interviews include:
Group panel interview: 50%
Phone interview: 25%
One on one interview: 25%
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