I applied through university. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Wayfair (Boston, MA) in Jan 2018
Interview
After on-campus information sessions, Wayfair selected a few students from the MBA program for a video interview that included a case and behavioral component with 2 interviewers. The final round was in Boston, where I met with 3 individuals. 2 focused on behavioral qualities and a third delivered a new case.
Tips:
1) Interviewers did not appear to have prepared in advance, so be sure to ask many clarifying questions because information is delivered in a choppy and convoluted manner, both during in person and video interviews. (This might have been intentional, because I experienced it in both video and in-person interview sessions)
2) Be prepared for rapid mental math in case interviews. Wayfair expects exact answers, not estimations. Do not round, as the interviewer will say "I have a different answer" if not within 2 decimal places
3) Save your receipts and ask to submit them after the interview process. Wayfair did not share their reimbursement policy and I had to ask. It will take more than 30 days to be repaid for your final interview trip.
4) My interviewer was late to my interview time on 2 occasions, and another interviewer left early citing they were "busy." They do not make candidates feel accommodated during the process.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Wayfair
Interview
First interview with HR was very straight forward. Asked general questions about overall experience.
They seek me out and thought my experience was a good fit for the role, knowing the positions I’ve held at a top competitor.
Second interview with the Director….this is where it was very strange. All they asked about was my current role and nothing about my overall experience.
Even when I expanded into my overall experience the hiring manager didn’t even want to hear it. They had no idea of what my other roles were or my experience. I don’t even think they even looked at my resume…
When I asked about the culture: the response well I’m not the person that should be answering that question.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Wayfair (Boston, MA) in Sept 2021
Interview
Referred by an employee, phone screening with internal recruiter for category management, case study with director level.
A virtual case study is challenging especially if you haven’t done one before. They include a lot of extra information in the data shown on screen and in the questions asked by interviewer. First you will be shown data and asked to identify what you see and trends. They may ask a question of what this means for the category performance vs overall company trend. Sometimes the questions were hard to follow since it’s virtual and you are trying to focus on the question while analyzing the date presented. Be prepared to do mental math e-commerce calculations and get them correct. If you do not get them correct or have to be guided, you may fail the case study.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What does the data shown represent?
Based on the data, how is this category doing?
Is there anything else you would say about this?
Month vs month, if we decreased the profit margin % to _ and increased the conversion rate to _ , what would the revenue be for the given month?
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Wayfair (Boston, MA) in Nov 2020
Interview
One of the best interview processes I have been through. Wayfair put in a lot of effort to ensure I was well prepared for each round.
Stage 1: Phone screen with recruiter
Stage 2: Case study
Stage 3: 3x behavioural interviews; 1x case study
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time when:
- Work to a solution without perfect information
- Used data to solve a problem
- Solved a problem in a unique and unusual way
- Prioritisation
- Had a difficult client and overcame it
- Disagreed with another leader
- Identified a talent problem