I applied for the position via their online system and in about 3-4 (business) days I received an email from HR in order to schedule an interview via the phone. The HR e-mail explained the interviewing process pointing out 3 steps:
1. Recruitment interview with a recruiter
2. Technical phone interview with 2 members from the IT Department
3. An in-person interview -- after which they would have contacted me with a decision in 1 week.
First step went well in my opinion, with no real hard question just basic stuff (where did you hear about us, why do you want to work for us, what is your experience with HTML/CSS/Javascript etc.) -- we scheduled the next interview at the end for the following week.
Second step was easy but a bit confusing for me, because although I was expecting the majority of the questions some of them were not focused on the UX Designer position.
It took about 45 minutes.
We talked about my portfolio, but I got the feeling it was not enough or what they were expecting (I couldn't show them unpublished, and more recent work due to NDA). Also asked me the process which I use when designing a website for a client.
We then talked about my suggestions for improving booking.com and although (the HR person mentioned this will be a question and I prepared for it) I had some ideas prepared I got the feeling it didn't get through to them (they didn't let me finish). Plus my observations were accompanied by ideas on why that particular aspect is problematic and how to fix it -- which was difficult to do over the phone.
We proceeded to talk about A/B testing and my experience with it which was occasional, because I like to do usability testing, from which I get more data. At this particular question I wasn't sure of what means of measuring conversion rate their were referring to (it depends on how you plan the test).
Also asked me about examples of (good/bad) design patterns on website I knew (the office I was in had no internet connection and I had to do it from memory).
Last part of the test was OK in my opinion they asked me HTML and CSS questions which I had experience with and the questions were not difficult at all:
What is a Doctype and what it is usage ? What happens when you don't write it?
What tags would you use for the navigation?
What do you use for font-size?
Give examples of CSS position rules?
What happens with CSS position absolute and relative? -- this is something you would know if you worked with them.
The last question was about browser compatibility, and they ask me why don't I support earlier versions of IE. My reasoning was simple: because the data shows me that IE9 and later are mostly used in my country and there is no need for support.
At the end they asked if I had any questions and I thought of 2 questions on the spot, after which I asked when can I expect an answer -- they mentioned that in 2-3 business days.
After the interview I knew that the answer will be negative but I wanted to see their feedback, which was non-exiting during the interview.
After 4-5 business days I got an e-mail via their online system which basically said: "we are looking for someone with stronger commercial awareness" which threw me off because in their job post they clearly state: "You’ve got experience OR are enthusiastic to work in a large e-commerce environment " (emphasis is on the OR).
Overall good/neutral experience, but I believe they asked the wrong questions in regards to UX position (I was expecting more design pattern questions, more analytical question regarding the "User Experience" and less focus on the e-commerce).