This is one of the questions I’m getting a lot these days. Why ARE employers increasingly asking for 6 or 7 rounds of interviews? Why do many people get asked to do giant projects before even one round? What the heck is going on out there?
The answer, as you might guess, is that there are multiple factors at play here.
One of those is simply technological advances. It’s so easy to apply for jobs now that some people just automate the process and have a system to send out applications to any role that fits certain criteria. Others lurk on job boards, spamming employers with applications, regardless of whether they are qualified or not. Still others try to game the system, throwing invisible or context-less keywords into the application to get past the applicant tracking systems. All of this naturally means that, when a human needs to pay attention to who has applied for a position, that human feels pressured to make sure the candidates are solid.
And then, of course, there’s our relatively new capacity for remote work. Some employers, finding that productivity didn’t suffer when people were able to work from anywhere, have extended that as an option for staff, or even make the workplace fully remote. That means, of course, greater schedule flexibility for everyone, so sometimes there are lots of rounds of interview because Sue lives in Connecticut and works Monday through Thursday, but Bill is based in Hawaii and works afternoons. In these cases, you’ll likely have one or two people on a call instead of a full panel.
Sometimes the employer is just bad at the process. They haven’t streamlined anything, they aren’t especially clear what it is they’re looking for, and they don’t really know what they need to demonstrate to the hiring manager. This inevitably leads to too many interviews—but fortunately, it’s fairly easy to spot so you can withdraw from consideration. If they’re that disorganized in the hiring process, they’re probably not going to be better once you get hired!
Finally, part of the reason for multiple-round interviews is simply that employers feel like they can ask for them. The job market is tight. People are anxious. The world feels very unsettled. All this comes together to make some employers feel empowered to draw the process out. And out. And out.
So yeah, it stinks. But hopefully this info gives you a little bit of insight as you navigate this long process!