The first round of the interview process involved a 30-minute phone interview with a recruiter/HR employee. The second round was another 30-minute phone interview but with the intention of getting an idea of which IT position you might be placed in after the IT Trainee program. The third and final round was a trip to JCPenney headquarters in Plano, TX and round robin style interviews consisting of three separate interview panels with two interviewers each. The time from my first phone interview to the final round was about 2 weeks. The final round interviews were surprisingly straightforward and mostly behavioral questions, with a few technical questions to get an idea of your stronger areas. Some of the typical "Tell us about a time when..." questions were asked, but they were slightly different than the usual versions of these questions. Make sure to have questions for them and show a strong interest in understanding more about the company. I think my lacking in this area was among the main reasons I did not get an offer.

After applying online, the first two "screening" interviews were over the phone and mainly consisted of why I wanted to work at JCP, what group experience I may have, and what technical experience I have. Later I had received a follow up for an in person interview. The interview process in person was quick and rather straight forward. There were three other applicants participating alongside me but rather a standard panel interview, it was more of a round robin or individual interview but with different interviewers. Each interview lasted about 20 minutes and consisted of mainly situational questions rather technical, although, one batch of interviews asked about, "light", technical, questions.