I applied to the analyst position via the website and did not hear anything for close to 6 weeks. I contacted a friend who worked with the company and was lucky enough she was able to pass along my resume to the hiring manager. HR/Recruiting seemed to be holding up the situation.
I was not located in SF, so conducted the process through phone interviews. I spoke first with the hiring manager. A little awkward because I had to ask the hiring manager some of the things Recruiting would have answered, salary range, benefits, timing, etc.
After the initial interview with the hiring manager, I scheduled another call to go over some more of the specific job related questions or what would be considered a second round interview. After getting through that, I was scheduled for 4 more phone interviews with various people in the group.
The interviews focused questions around real estate, behavior, and testing knowledge of Gap. ie: How would improve a store's/unit's revenue? What are current cap rates on real estate? What do you perceive as your biggest strengths/weaknesses? What do you think Gap's biggest opportunities/threats are?
If you are somewhat savvy and understand "operating RE", you should be able to answer the RE questions. Make sure to read through the Gap website, investor presentations, and annual report, and there are really no questions there aren't answers too. They recycle a lot of questions too. So as you go through the interview you should be able to get better at answering the same questions.
The position is best suited for someone who has been in retail asset management and leasing you need to have financial an operating analysis experience. Team and position have good exposure to senior management. The group has limited influence on strategy and operating direction. The function seems to be there to maximize real estate PSF utilization.
One anecdote: One of the people I spoke that asked the question about current cap rates seemed to be out of the transaction side of the business or wasn't up-to-date on current transactions for a little too long. I gave an answer which did not match what she expected and a little counter intuitive to what you would expect from the market; however, it was the correct answer. The interviewee, continued to question and I could tell discount me right away.
Significant opportunity to transfer around the company in different capacities with different groups. Salary is good and competitive for retail. You won't live like a king in the Bay Area, but you're not slumming it either. Don't expect to make PE, banking, consulting, kind of money. Benefits are awesome though. Stock options, health, vision, and the clothing discount program.
If you do your homework and prepare, the interview and the process is manageable.
I was a finalist for the position and was beat out by an internal promotion.
