Like others have stated, the interview process for Progressive is very step by step and by the books. They take the process seriously and obviously stick to this approach for a reason. The entire process was indeed from start to finish but now that it is over, I am very happy with how thorough and organized it all was.
Saw job posting and applied 9/1/16
Received email with assessment 9/9/16
Received results next day 9/10/16
Scheduled phone interview 9/12/16 for 9/14/16
Started background check same day phone interview 9/14/16
Received request for additional info for background check 9/19/16 and again 9/22/16
Contacted to schedule face to face interview 9/26/16, face to face on 9/27/16
Received phone call with official offer 10/4/16
The reason I provided these dates is solely because I relied greatly on this site for encouragement that they "haven't forgotten about me" and I am sure others are in the same boat! Don't worry and don't lose hope if this is the job you want because it just does take a lot of time and you need to be patient.
My phone interview was very simple. Tell me about your current job, past jobs and describe your duties. Why do you want to work for progressive and why do you want to leave your past job? What do you like about your current job and what do you dislike? Very conversational. Keep in mind these people do not work for Progressive so you don't need to "impress" them, they really just want to know your experiences and how they relate. There were a few STAR questions concluding the interview. The interview expressed at the end to study more of the STAR approach and how to answer these types of questions and I am glad that I did!!
I wrote a list of questions down and didn't "memorize" answers, but tried to at least think of good examples for a lot of the sample questions I saw listed so I was prepared. I found this to be very helpful for me in the face to face interview as they do (I feel as though they are required to) ask you more STAR questions. Be conversational but be direct and specific in your examples. At the end of the interview, I was told how the next steps would go, I would either get an offer, get told no, or get offered to be on a waiting list of sorts in case something opens up. He also told me that I should be happy to have gotten this far in the process no matter what happens because few people get to the face to face. Don't be discouraged by this because like me, you may end up getting the job! Be confident!
Lastly, thank you to everyone who has posted on this site (although you aren't the ones reading this, I'm sure) and I hope this hopes a future candidate get the job as well!