not a Netflix employee, but i've placed candidates there and debriefed enough people coming out of the Netflix process to give you a realistic picture of the recruiter phone screen.
first: the Netflix recruiter screen is longer than most. plan for 45 minutes, sometimes hitting an hour. it's not a vibe check. they will cover:
1. compensation alignment, early. Netflix pays top-of-market and has an unusual cash-heavy comp model. they will ask what your current comp is and what you're targeting. they're not trying to low-ball you - they genuinely need to know if their model fits what you want. if you hate talking money early, the Netflix process is going to feel weird to you. get comfortable with it.
2. your resume, in detail. not the surface-level 'walk me through your background.' they'll drill into a specific project. why did you make that choice, what was the impact, what would you do differently. they're pre-screening for the culture contribution round.
3. why Netflix specifically. this one trips people up. 'i love streaming' doesn't work. they want to hear something genuine and specific about what interests you about building at scale for entertainment. the more you've actually thought about their tech, product decisions, or engineering challenges, the better this goes.
4. culture fit context. Netflix has its culture doc. the recruiter will probe a few of the values. typically they'll ask about a time you got direct feedback or delivered it to someone. they want to see you're not allergic to candor.
what gets people screened out at this stage: being cagey about comp, giving generic 'why Netflix' answers, or being unable to go deep on at least one thing from their background.
if you pass, the recruiter usually tells you the loop structure and timeline within a day or two. the process moves fast once you're in it.