Very intense interview process. I was an internal candidate. First interview is a panel interview with the Regional Sales Director and current SSMs in the region. A group of final candidates were assigned small satellite groups to oversee for the duration of the contest that was running at the time. I did not find this portion of the interview process to be productive, overseeing stores on a temporary basis made it difficult to hold employees accountable for their performance. However, my group did win this phase and I continued through the process. The next interview was with the Regional Loss Prevention Manager. He arrived unannounced one morning and conducted a surprise audit to ensure my store was operationally sound. After passing the audit we had a sit-down interview, which resulted in his submitting a letter of recommendation to the Divisional Sales Director. The final step involved meeting with the DSD and a team of Regionals at another store, reviewing the expectations of the position, discussing the career path of the job, etc. Wasn't much of an interview at that point, just more of a final meet and review, and my DSD submit a letter of recommendation to the home office. A few weeks later I was notified by my RSD that my paperwork had been processed and I officially had the job. My biggest advice to any internal candidate is to not lose sight of the needs of your own store and ensure your merchandising, loss prevention, and promotion practices are thorough. Your home store will be under heavy scrutiny, and you don't want to lose your opportunity over something that was easily avoidable. Entire process took roughly 10 weeks.