Was referred to Amex by an existing employee. The role sounded interesting, with a lot of potential for growth as it is a sector they are investing in. There was the initial screening call with HR (who is outsourced not a part of Amex), that lasted about 20 minutes.
Secondly I had a phone interview with a manager in the same department I would be working with (the hiring manager was on vacation for a few more weeks). These questions were more focused on my skills, experience and how well they would translate to the role. This round lasted 45 minutes.
The third interview was a formal panel interview with three managers (the hiring manager was still away but they wanted to hire for this role as soon as possible). This interview was competency based with a focus on communication, leadership and sales effectiveness. It was very comfortable and easy if you are well prepared. Many behavioral and scenario questions. This round lasted around the two hour mark.
I left that day quite confident and waiting for the "official" offer to come through. Then I received a call from HR asking to send my residency documents (which should have been asked from the beginning) I am currently waiting for Permanent Residency (which I stated to HR during the initial screening) and hold a valid interim visa. There was a policy issue and after sending my documents to their legal department I was informed they could only hire permanent residents.
I think it was disappointing for all of us involved in the later stages of the hiring process that the outsourced HR team hadn't done their due diligence from the initial phone call as it really took time away from that team to be able to hire another candidate, while causing me to interview for a job I couldn't have been hired for.
Overall the culture and staff at Amex seemed very pleasant and my interactions with them were great. The outsourced HR group however was clumsy at times, were hard to communicate effectively with. My contact often stumbled over words, spoke very quickly and seemed nervous throughout the whole process. To then have the offer not come through due something that should have been noted from the beginning was not a good experience.