How to prepare for your interview at Brooklinen
How to prepare for
your interview at Brooklinen
Hello! We’re so excited you’re coming to interview with our team. We know job searching isn’t easy and so we’ve put together this page so you know what to expect.
About our interview process:
At Brooklinen, our interview process generally consists of a phone screen and 2-3 “in-person” (currently video) rounds of interviews (with a few meetings in each). Your interviewers will be a mix of functional team members, People team members, and cross-functional partners.
If we move forward after first rounds, we will send a project which you will complete on your own time and will then be reviewed with the hiring manager during the next round of interviews (more on this below). After final rounds, we will also check references before making final offer decisions.
There are a number of factors that determine how long a process will run that are largely out of our control but we aim to be in touch with decisions on next steps (or at least an update) within a week of any interview. If you don’t hear from us, please reach out to your recruiting contact - you’re never bugging us and we consider it our job to get you timely info!
What we may ask:
The majority of questions that will be asked in your interview will be related to one of 3 areas below:
- Technical skills or past experiences that are directly related to the job or our business needs
- Your approach to getting your job done, including how you work with others and collaborate/communicate up, down, and across
- Your excitement, passion, and knowledge of our brand and the function you are joining
We often ask behavioral questions which focus on gathering examples from past experiences you’ve had. For tips on answering behavioral questions, check out the CAR method.
To prepare, we recommend:
- Reviewing the job description and considering the skills and capabilities that we’re looking for someone to bring to this role. Think of examples that demonstrate your ability in each area.
- Researching our company and considering how the team you are looking to join is integral to our goals. We are humbled to have been written about quite a bit over the past few years (as well as featured on podcasts and in news segments) so there is lots out there!
Come as you are:
When you come to interview at Brooklinen, you can feel comfortable showing up as your true and authentic self. Our interview will always be about what you bring to the table, not what you’re wearing, your hair, makeup (or lack thereof), tattoos, any religious attire, if your dog barks in the background, or your toddler runs into the room. The last thing we’d ever want is for someone to feel that they had to change who they are or how they look to come meet us.
During your interview:
When you meet with the team for your in-person (currently virtual) interviews, each conversation is 30-45 minutes long. To ensure we are conducting fair interviews and assessments, we train our interviewers to ask all candidates the same questions that are directly related to the job and company. Whenever possible, we save the last 5 minutes of each interview for answering any questions you may have. We understand that you are interviewing us too and encourage asking questions that will help you determine if the role is right for you.
Thank-you notes & follow ups:
Something you should know about our team is that we love follow up! We feel a thank you note or follow up after an interview says something about your level of interest in joining us, so feel free to ask for anyone’s email if you don’t have it :)
Additionally, if you were expecting an update and didn’t hear from us, or even have an additional question you forgot to ask, we’d love to hear from you.
Take Home Projects:
We are very selective and thoughtful about who we send take home projects to - we don’t take it lightly that we’re asking for more of your time and energy and only would do so if we felt confident about the feedback from your initial conversations.
Our belief is that a resume and 30 minute interview can only get us so far - seeing how someone thinks through a challenge (that they will face often in the job) and presents their thoughts gives us the additional insight we need to make hiring decisions. We also think seeing candidates in action allows us to lead a more fair process that takes into account ability and potential in addition to past experiences and education (if applicable) alone.
This step of our process is in NO way a means to collect free work or ideas. We share our Head of People’s direct email with every candidate who does a project and ask that they reach out immediately if they ever feel their work was used without permission and compensation.
Thank you!
We know job searching takes time, energy, and can be exhausting too! Thank you for your interest in working with us. We are grateful for the opportunity to get to know you and if you have any questions not answered here, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Team Brooklinen
