Got laid off in March, went wide on applications, IKEA was one of maybe 20 active processes. Ended up going further there than anywhere else so I want to document this.
Round 1: 30-min recruiter call. Standard fit stuff. They asked pretty early whether I had a handle on 'IKEA way of working' and I had done my homework so that went fine.
Round 2: 60-min with the hiring manager. This was almost entirely behavioral. Tell me about a time you had to align stakeholders who disagreed. Tell me about a project where you had to balance creativity with operational constraints. Very STAR-friendly format, they're definitely expecting that structure.
Round 3: 60-min with a peer panel, two senior marketers. More craft-focused here. They had me walk through a campaign from brief to results and asked a lot about how I measured impact and what I'd do differently.
Round 4: 45-min with a director I hadn't met. Felt more like a vibe check than anything. She asked what drew me to IKEA specifically and I think this is where people probably filter out if their answer is 'the job posting looked good.'
Round 5: Offer call + comp discussion.
Total time: about 6 weeks. They're not in a rush. I appreciated that the people were warm and direct throughout. The comp came in mid-range for Amsterdam-based remote and there was limited room to move. Took the offer.