I applied October 16th to a corporate store in the southern California area. Received a call from the HR recruitment team for a screening and phone interview on the 21st or 22nd (forgot the exact date). After the HR rep asked me a few questions about myself, he continued by asking 3 interview questions.The phone interview caught my completely by surprise. After I passed(?), I was scheduled for an in store interview with the hiring manager for the 23rd.
Upon arriving 15mins early, I was indicated that the hiring manager no longer works in that portion of AT&T and that I was going to be interviewed by someone else. I went in, proceeded to formally greet the gentleman and went to the office to begin the interview. As soon as I sat down, the interviewer acknowledged that he will be reviewing my resume and only asking one question. I was in and out within 15mins of arriving.(<--This was an informal approach to the interview, which I concluded occurred in this manner either because the interviewer was not in charge of interviewing or in desperate need of employees. Therefore one should not expect the same.)
I was called by the store manager and was scheduled for a phone assessment to establish if I can receive a higher pay since I speak a second language. The phone assessment WAS NOT another form of an interview and my responses will not reflect the decision to hire me or not. I was assured that this was not a formal interview so I did not bother dressing the part. I went in dressed casual, yet I still apologized for my informality to the store manager, which totally did not care that I was not dressed in an informal manner. I was instructed to dial a number and I would have to speak to an automated service and answer 15 question given in an other language and answer in an other language. One or two of the questions were given to me in English and I was supposed to respond in my second language. I think it was vice versa, as well.
On October 31st, I received a call by an HR hiring manager (not directly associated with the store I applied for..I think) who extended a contingent offer, told me that I passed the second language assessment and was scheduled to begin training on December 2nd, with the condition that my background check clears. Since I accepted the offer, I was expected to submit all relevant information to HireRight, the company that conducts the background, within 24 hours. On November 1st, I was informed through e-mail that I was expected to complete a drug test within 48 hours. I was told that HireRight can take up to 5-7 days to complete the background. At this point, I have not received a final offer since my background has not been completed by HireRight, though as I mentioned before, I have been scheduled for training at the beginning of December. So as long as everything checks out, I am set.