i'm a recruiter and i've also coached a bunch of people through phone screens. a few friends recently went through Home Depot's screen for tech roles, and i've been compiling what they told me. here's what to actually expect.
first, a Home Depot recruiter phone screen is almost never technical for SWE roles. it's typically 20-30 minutes. the recruiter is screening for: basic fit (will you actually take this job, are your expectations reasonable) location/work arrangement (they have multiple tech hubs: Atlanta is the main one, but there are remote-friendly roles) relevant experience at a high level compensation alignment
questions people reported getting: 'walk me through your background' (every single time, this is the opener) 'what types of projects or systems have you worked on at scale' 'why Home Depot / why are you interested in a retail tech company' 'what are you looking for in your next role' 'what's your expected comp range'
the 'why Home Depot' question trips people up more than it should. they're a $40B+ revenue company that spent the last decade building a serious tech org. you don't have to love hardware stores. you can talk about scale, the supply chain transformation, the challenge of building systems that serve both online and physical retail. that's a real and interesting problem space.
what to NOT do: say you're 'just exploring opportunities' and have no particular interest. they'll probe that and it reads as low-conviction. lowball your comp expectations trying to 'get through the screen.' if it's too low they'll question your level. know your number.
one thing that's different from some companies: their recruiters are more knowledgeable than average about the roles. a few people noted they asked follow-up technical context questions that showed they understood what the role actually did. so you can't coast on vague answers.
good luck.