HR screening (phone) -> Technical interview (phone) -> Technical test (taken at home) -> Technical interview (on-site).

There was basically a week wait between each of the hiring components mentioned.

Each step probed a little more deeply to tease out some more information.

I came away from it all with the sense these guys only want and will only take the absolute best candidates.

It was a valuable process for me learning a little more about my own strengths and weaknesses.

Too bad it didn't work out.

On to the next opportunity...

Justify why you answered this way or that way in the technical test.

How do you keep your software tester skills up to date?

Basically pretty much any kind of statement I made in the interview was questioned to see what my justification was for it, e.g. "you mentioned ISEB/ISTQB. Why did you choose them? We think they're a dead or dying organization and having their qualification is meaningless, isn't it?"