okay so i was laid off earlier this year and schwab was one of the companies i applied to. got a recruiter screen and was a little nervous because it had been a while. figured i'd write up what actually happened.
length: about 25-30 minutes
who: a recruiter from their talent acquisition team, not a hiring manager
what they covered: quick background / role confirmation. they had my resume but wanted to hear a 2-minute version of where i've been and what i'm looking for. compensation expectations. they asked my target range early. i gave a range and they noted it without pushback. timeline and availability. when can you start, any competing offers, are you in final rounds elsewhere. location flexibility. the role was hybrid westlake tx, they wanted to confirm i was open to that. a few soft questions. why charles schwab, what kind of team culture do you thrive in, what does your ideal manager look like. not hard, but have real answers.
what they did NOT ask: any technical questions, no coding, no system design, nothing about specific technologies. 100% fit and logistics.
the tone: professional but warm. i've had recruiter screens that felt like a checklist interrogation and this wasn't that. the recruiter seemed genuinely interested in placing someone well, not just filling a req.
one thing to prepare: they asked specifically why i was interested in financial services / fintech. if you don't have a natural connection (previous fintech experience, personal interest in markets, etc.) spend a few minutes thinking through a genuine answer. saying "it's a stable industry" isn't going to land well.
followed up with the OA about 3 days later.