I applied online. After two weeks I had not heard anything, so I called the store. The manager told me that they were in the process of doing phone interviews, and I should receive a call soon. 5 days later I had an initial phone interview with basic questions of why REI, experience, and availability. At the end of the call I was invited to the hiring clinic at the store. The clinic was 16 interviews for 10 open positions in 4 departments. After a brief ppt presentation of REI overview, we were split into 4 groups of 4 and rotated through 4 stations together. The first station was a mock sale to a customer (fellow interviewee. Second station was a team building activity of pitching a tent with your group in under 12 minutes. Third station was a question session on Customer service. They asked general questions to the group and waited for responses. Fourth station was similar to the third, but with the focus of creating a culture of inclusion. They really wanted to see how you dealt with situations and how you interacted with your peers. It was very casual and fun.