What happens in the Zalando recruiter call, and how should you prepare?

The 30 second answer

It is a short, mostly non-technical call with a talent acquisition partner: your background and motivation, why Zalando, what you expect from the role, salary expectations and logistics, then the next steps. Prepare a ninety-second introduction, one project story with a measurable result, a specific reason for Zalando, a researched salary range, and a few questions about the process.

Reported. How We Hire lists motivation, "Why Zalando?", salary expectations and next steps for a 15–45 minute call. The 2023 engineering post adds expectations, strengths and career accomplishments, and says the recruiter describes the role, business area and culture. A Zalando recruiter's 2022 talk adds administrative topics and relocation for candidates in another country and describes the call as not deeply technical. Candidate snippets from 2025 and 2026 mention "introduce yourself", "describe a project", "Why Zalando", past experience, salary expectations and an explanation of the process and team.

Preparation checklist (Inferred).

A 60–90 second introduction: present role, one or two relevant past wins, why this role next.
One project story with your role and a result you can quantify honestly.
A specific reason for Zalando and for this team, drawn from public material such as the engineering blog.
A researched salary range and a plan for how to state it.
Logistics you can answer in one sentence: location, notice period, need for relocation or a work permit.
Three to five questions about the process.

Tone. Zalando's September 2026 post encourages using AI tools to research the company and run practice interviews, and to use the STAR method. Short, specific answers beat long ones in a 30-minute call.

Sources (5)