Patagonia Careers: A Guide To Getting Hired At Patagonia & Acing the Interviews

With stores in over 10+ countries globally, factories in over 16 countries, and people wearing their clothing in over 100+ different countries - Patagonia stands as one of the world's leading outdoor apparel brands focusing on the environment and making quality products.

Started in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard as a rock climbing gear company, Yvon grew Patagonia through making equipment for his own passion as a rock climbing enthusiast. From starting out with just rugby shirts to now selling a whole range of apparel including camping, sports, surfing, fleeces, etc - Patagonia prides itself on being a company making quality products whilst still focusing on their environmental, social, and corporate impact.

Over 1000 employees currently work at Patagonia, and it is known to be a very welcoming & hard working place. If you are an outdoors enthusiast or just love the company and want to apply for a role, this is the article for you. We’ll be diving into the hiring process for Patagonia, interview questions, different stages of the interview process, and the overall timeline you can expect to hear back from the hiring team at Patagonia. Let’s jump in!

Patagonia’s Hiring Process Overview

Patagonia’s hiring process consists of 4 different rounds of interviews with their team members depending on the role you're applying for. The 4 rounds of interviews include:

• A Phone Interview with HR
• A Team Member Interview
• An Assessment / Take Home Project/ Analytical Interview
• A Final Team Interview
  

Although this is the typical hiring process, the amount of interviews differ between roles. As a general rule of thumb, the more senior your role is the more interviews you will undergo.

For Patagonia retail jobs that are in-store, such as sales associates, retail assistants or store managers, interviews will primarily be conducted in person. Those interviews look as follows:

1. Zoom with HR Manager
2. Interview in-store
3. Interview with store manager about job, pay, expectations

Additionally, for the assessment interview, be prepared to be assessed based on the role you are interviewing for (e.g. software engineer roles will go through technical assessments, customer service interviews will go through more behaviour based assessments).

Step 1: Applying

Where Can I Apply For A Job At Patagonia?

Jobs at Patagonia can often be found across their website which you can find at https://www.patagonia.com/jobs-at-patagonia/. They also regularly post on their Linkedin page available here. For one central place to find Patagonia  jobs, you can also check out eComportal. You’ll find a category of remote Patagonia jobs that relate to the eCommerce industry. Its also important to keep in mind that Patagonia is a global company. Their headquarters is in Ventura, California, but they also hire for roles in Amsterdam, Canada, and Denmark.

How Difficult Is It To Get Hired At Patagonia?

Patagonia's hiring process is rated 2.7 out of 5 by Glassdoor. Out of 58 interviews, 18% were rated negative, 69% were rated positive, & about 13% were rated neutral. These interviewers were conducted on a broad range of job positions. Generally, Patagonia is seen as a very socially conscious company with a culture that does not just prioritise profits but also prioritises community, the environment, and doing good for the planet. Because of this, lots of applicants find the interviews are way more personality based than skill assessment based. Depending on the role you are applying for, we’d recommend also putting a strong emphasis on showing the parts of your personality that relate to what the company stands for.

Step 2: Interview Process

How Long Does It Take After Applying To Hear Back From Patagonia?

Patagonia typically has a fast response time via email if you are applying for more general, in-store roles. The typical response time for these roles is about 1 week. For positions higher up the company, you can expect a response time between 2-3 weeks depending on the volume of applicants they get. For in-store roles, you can expect a response within a couple days to come in-store for the first part of the assessment.

What Are Some Questions I Can Expect In The Patagonia Interview Process?

Typically, the questions that the Patagonia team will ask you when getting interviewed are based on the role that you are getting hired for. You can expect questions directly related to your role that you may have received for similar positions. Overall, common questions that seem to come up a lot regardless of the role being hired for are questions like:

General Questions:

1. What is your prior knowledge of Patagonia?

2. Why do you want to work at Patagonia?

3. Do you participate in any activism?

4. What are your ethics? How do they align with Patagonia?

For Marketing roles:

1. How do you handle conflict within a team or with a team member?
2. How do you manage multiple responsibilities?
3. Tell us about a campaign you’ve ran in the past that you are particularly proud of
   

For Customer Service / Customer Experience roles:

1. What is your experience with Salesforce?
2. How many years of experience in customer service do you have?
3. Why do you want to leave your current position?
4. What does Not Bound By Convention mean to you?
   

For Retail Associate / Store Manager Jobs:

1. What parts of the job do you think you’d bring the most to?
2. What parts of the job description do you think would be the steepest learning curve for you?
   

How Long Does It Take To Hear Back From Patagonia After The First Interview

Patagonia has been consistent with following up each interview by planning the next interview, usually done within a week's time depending on the calendar availability. You can expect a second interview in 1 to 2 weeks if you pass the first interview.

Step 3: Getting Hired

How Long Does The Entire Hiring Process At Patagonia Take?

Typically, you can expect the entire process to take 2-6 weeks. Patagonia has varying hiring processes for different positions. Each interview is usually spread 1 week apart but some locations operate differently than others. This hiring process is usually the standard case.

We have heard of reports for higher up, managerial roles to take up to 3 months. For roles that are more senior, their process of vetting the candidate will take longer thus the whole hiring process will be longer. For in-store roles, this process can take a month from start to finish.

How Long Does It Take To Hear Back From Patagonia About A Job?

After your final interview, you can expect to hear back within a week's time with either a formal offer or an email letting you know you did not get the role.