Ask Deb: How Many Rounds Are Too Many?

Dear Deb:

I have been laid off for over 6 months and am beginning to feel a bit hopeless. Compounding my feelings is that I have been getting multiple interviews, yet no offers. The interview processes that I’ve encountered are nothing like anything I’ve seen before in my career. 

I recently went through 7—yes 7—rounds of interviews for a role for which I was more than qualified. The first round was with the recruiter. Second round with the hiring manager. Third round with other members of the team. Fourth round was a panel interview for which I had to prepare a presentation. Fifth round was with the hiring manager again. Sixth round was one of the hiring manager’s peers. Seventh was with the CEO, who did not know who I was or why we were meeting and thought I was already hired. 

I was sure that after all of the time and effort I’d invested into the process, an offer would be forthcoming. Instead, I received a standard rejection email a few days after the seventh round of interviews. When I asked the recruiter if she could provide more insight, she ignored my message. 

My question is this: how many interviews are needed these days? I felt like everything after the third was excessive, but I also felt like I’d invested all of this time and effort, so I might as well continue the process. If I were employed and looking, there is no way that I could have gone through this process, and I likely would have withdrawn my candidacy when the process became absurd. 

Thanks,

James

Hi James:

What you describe is absurd but, sadly, not uncommon in today’s job market. I completely agree that 7 rounds of interviews are excessive, duplicative, and unnecessary. It’s especially troubling that the hiring team put you in front of the CEO without briefing him on why he was meeting with you. Shame on the CEO for not knowing why he was talking to you. All around, this sounds like an awful experience for candidates. 

While there is no specific formula for an acceptable number of interviews, 7 is too many. Assuming you were not interviewing for a C-suite role, the hiring manager and team should have been able to say yay or nay after 3 rounds. What’s even more of a red flag to me here is that they also required you to do a project or case study and then present it to a panel. I know this is becoming more common for roles at all levels, but this is a nonsensical hiring practice. This practice of spec work repels talent, who often see this as merely free labor. Additionally, there is no evidence of the correlation between completing an interview project and performance on the job. 

I suggest that in the future, you get a clear idea of how involved the interview process will be from the recruiter. That can give you a good idea of how the hiring team has thought about what they’re looking for rather than just interviewing a bunch of people to determine what they need. Also, I advise against doing projects for all the reasons listed above. They waste candidates’ time, and job seekers universally revile them. Finally, to answer your initial question, “How many rounds are too many?” I would say that 3-4 for a non-executive role should suffice. Seven is just crazy. 

All my best,

Deb