I had my most tiresome and unluckiest interview process I've ever had. I'll try to be as detailed and honest as possible:

I applied for a Software Engineer (midcareer) position via Rakuten career page. I was not in Japan at the time, so everything was done online.

Week 1 Application sent.

Week 2 Got contacted via email. I was told to do a Programming Test and Pre-recorded Video Interview. I was given 1 week to complete both.

Online Programming Test consisted of 1 mathematical question that needs to be solved by writing a Java method. I was given 60 minutes.

Pre-recorded Video Interview consisted of a series of pre-recorded general questions, and I needed to answer online. My answers were recorded and sent to Rakuten (audio and video). No issue here, since all the questions were mentioned in the invitation email, so I could prepare the answers before doing the interview.

Week 3 I was still waiting for the results, then they contacted me and asked me to take an English test since I never took any English test before. They recommended TOEIC. So I took my TOEIC test at my own expense. I needed a minimum score of 800 to qualify; thankfully, I scored much higher than that.

Week 4 I was contacted that I had passed the Programming Test and Recorded Interview and to schedule my first Skype video interview.

Week 5 First interview was with a Team Lead and a Senior Engineer. They were both Japanese. It lasted about 30 minutes, nothing extraordinary, very typical questions like "Why Rakuten?" and "Tell me about your past experiences."

A few days later, I was told I had passed the first interview and to schedule the second interview.

Week 6 Second interview was with a Manager. He was Japanese. It lasted about 30 minutes, nothing extraordinary. He was asking about what motivated me and whether I was used to working hard. Questions were like "Why Japan?", "Do you love coding?", "Are you willing to work overtime?"

He also told me that my salary expectation was too high for them and asked me that if I wanted to proceed, I should expect less than what I had previously stated.

A few days later, I was told I had passed the second interview and to schedule the third interview.

I also received a salary package proposal from the HR team and was asked what I thought about it. I politely asked whether it could be negotiated. They answered it would depend on the third and fourth interviews.

Week 7 Third interview was with a Head of Development Unit I was applying for. He was not Japanese; previously lived in the United States, so his English was very fluent, unlike previous interviewers. This interviewer was professional, yet very relaxed, smiled a lot, and made a few jokes to make the interview less strained. He didn't ask much; instead, his first question was whether I had questions for him. I recognized it right away that he wanted to see my interest in the position, so I asked many questions about the unit he's in charge of.

He also gave me a data structure problem to solve. I was given an array of financial data and explained what the data were. I was asked to calculate a profit projection based on the rules he mentioned. I asked for a few minutes and wrote the code in a separate text editor, then pasted the result in the Skype window. He recognized it right away that it was correct and asked if it could be improved and how it could be improved. He also asked about the Big O Notation of my solution.

Week 8 I was told I made it to the fourth (final) interview. I was given a digital copy of 2 success books authored by Rakuten CEO. I was told to read them and write essays about the two books and submit the essays before the fourth interview.

HR staff arranged my final interview date and I confirmed it. It was supposed to be conducted in about 2 weeks.

Week 9 I was contacted that the interviewer had suddenly changed his schedule, thus my final interview needed to be rescheduled. They told me they would let me know about the new date later. I replied politely that they could reschedule it to any date and time that's convenient for the interviewer.

The next day, the recruitment team (not the usual HR team) sent me a shocking email that my application had to be cancelled because the position was suddenly closed due to "organization change" and "budget difficulties".

I was deeply disappointed.

If you ever gave your best and you still had to be turned down for something out of your control, you knew what I felt that day.

The programming test was quite difficult. The math problem had to be solved precisely, and every case had to be handled carefully to ensure a correct program outcome.