Firstly, applying online was easily, although I noticed it was full of grammatical errors (ha!). Second stage was the phone interview with the recruiter, which was pleasant. Third stage....was hands down the worst interview of my life. I spoke with two copywriters, and they couldn't have been more devoid of human emotion. The entire interview felt more like a CIA interrogation than an interview. Hey Booking.com staff, if you're reading this, don't tell interviewees that they successfully passed a writing test, only to later rip said test to shreds during the phone interview, in a passive aggressive way, of course. They literally took no time to ask about my processes, competencies or communication style. Instead, I was given loaded questions that determined nothing other than me luckily given them what they wanted to hear.

My first interview was over the phone with a hiring manager. This was just a brief call to talk about my experience and motivations. After the initial phone call, I was sent a copywriting exercise to complete. This was to create some USP headlines and a short length piece on a tourist attraction, for example, the Eiffel tower. After submitting I had a further phone call with two copywriters to discuss the test. They asked why I had chosen the USP headlines and how I created the short length piece. Next, they asked what I would do if some of the text needed changing. The answers are all about using the multitude of data metrics available to booking.com to see what works and what doesn't, they're heavily invested in A/B testing. As booking.com translate their copy from English into lots of other languages it's important to not have complex or colloquial language throughout the text. Be prepared to offer alternative words and phrases. After passing this stage, I was invited out to interview at their headquarters in Amsterdam, with all flights and accommodation paid for. I was probably in the office for a total of 6 hours, though that included a lunch they provided, waiting around for people to become available and an office tour. The first stage was meeting a copywriter and product manager. They gave me a test which consisted of 4 tasks and 30 minutes to complete - part of the task is deciding on which questions should get a priority. It was similar to the previous copywriting tests - I was required to come up with some USP headlines, tag lines, improve text on search results, and mobile only text. Just keep in mind your reasons for your copy at all times, avoid saying things like "it sounds good". Try to back up your ideas with data from past experience. The copywriter and product manager team will talk to you about your copy test and give you a couple of scenarios based around how you would change your copy after getting data metric feedback. The next part of the interview is a more senior team of copywriter and product manager. This felt a little bit more tricky to me. I was given multiple scenarios to see how I would deal with making changes to my copy, ranging from copy having a negative effect, sorting out priorities, and creating copy for different types of media. The priorities should always be decided by the data. Which page is ultimately more important for conversion? The last stage was one more copywriter and product manager team - although this seemed a lot more informal. I was asked my motivations, about my past experience, and essentially if I was a good fit personality wise for the company.