PepsiCo runs two visibly different loops depending on which side of the house you enter. Corporate and campus hiring (finance, accounting, marketing, supply chain, shopper insights) is short and behavioral-heavy: a recruiter or phone touch, then one or two 30-45 minute conversations with the actual finance or marketing leaders, often on Zoom or at an on-campus session, with a light business case bolted on for the finance and MBA tracks. Field and frontline hiring (Frito-Lay merchandisers, route sales, warehouse, CDL drivers) instead layers a phone screen, an in-person interview run by the safety and transportation supervisors with situational questions, and then a job-shadow ride-along or a physical work exercise before any offer, followed by a drug test and background check. The UK graduate scheme is the outlier: online tests up front, then a half-day assessment centre with competency interviews, a role play and a numerical test.
These 10 writeups cover sales, operations, supply chain and other roles, US-heavy, some UK grad scheme. 7 of them were posted under a pseudonym (Reddit, GeeksforGeeks or forum handles), so we could not verify the authors’ identities.
PepsiCo publishes two separate hiring flows. For professional roles it lists application review, a recruiter phone or video conversation, interviews with the hiring team, then decision and offer. For US hourly jobs it lists application plus assessment review, a virtual or onsite interview, decision and offer, then pre-employment background checks and day-one prep. Interviews are explicitly organised around its GREAT5 leadership framework (Growth, Relationships, Execution, Agility, Thinking) and the company asks candidates to bring real examples for each. It also states that background checks vary by role and that interview accommodations can be requested.
A recruiter phone conversation after applying online, ahead of the in-person stage.
Covered · Behavioral
2
One-on-one interviewHiring manager
A one-on-one interview built around scenarios involving PepsiCo's own product lines, including being asked for a concrete example of using data to solve a selling problem.
Covered · Data analysis, Customer scenarios, Sales roleplay
3
Drug test and background checkFinal
Standard pre-employment screening before the offer was finalised.
About two weeks after applying, a video interview with two non-HR finance people (a managing director and a senior associate) that opened with an unannounced but simple case on valuation method and why an acquisition can make sense at zero or negative NPV, then moved into detailed behavioral questions about difficult teammates, tough decisions and the role the candidate plays in groups.
Covered · Financial modeling, Case study, Behavioral, Conflict handling
An online application to a Frito-Lay plant, with the invite to interview arriving by text and email; the candidate waited about two weeks because the hiring manager was away, and noted the normal turnaround is a few days.
Covered · Shift availability
2
In-person panel interviewPanel
An hour-long interview run by the site safety person and the transportation supervisor, opening with a background release form and consisting largely of oddball situational questions, plus a frank explanation of the seniority bidding system, dispatch, the physical hand-unload work, home time and realistic first-year earnings.
Applied in early February for a full-time days delivery driver role in Philadelphia and heard nothing beyond an acknowledgement email for roughly two and a half months before the interview invitation arrived.
Covered · Shift availability
2
Face-to-face interviewHiring manager
A short, brisk morning interview at the plant consisting of about six questions, closing with a candidate question slot that the author strongly recommends using.
Covered · Behavioral, Safety procedures
3
Contingent offer and screeningFinal
A contingent offer landed three days after the interview, followed by a background check, a drug screen and DOT physical, an online driver qualification form, and finally a scheduled road test.
A face-to-face interview at the district before any field stage.
Covered · Behavioral, Customer scenarios
3
Ride-alongJob shadow / site visit
A ride-along with a route employee in which the candidate was expected to jump in and help stock product in stores; the hiring manager ran several candidates through ride-alongs before deciding, so it is an assessment stage rather than a formality.
An initial interview, with the ride-along scheduled about a week later.
Covered · Behavioral, Shift availability
2
Ride-alongJob shadow / site visit
A field ride-along on a Monday as the middle stage of the loop.
Covered · Safety procedures, Customer scenarios
3
Second interviewHiring manager
A follow-up interview three days after the ride-along; the candidate was told other applicants were still being seen and that no drug test had been scheduled yet.
Future Leaders Graduate Programme (Sales & Marketing), UK
New grad
Not selected1 round
1
Online application and testsOnline assessment
An application form plus PepsiCo's online tests, which the candidate found easy and completed in one to two hours; the rejection arrived the next day, which they attributed to their engineering degree not matching a business-oriented sales and marketing intake.
After applying through the university's Handshake portal, a single interview with two PepsiCo interviewers at once, which the candidate found intimidating on paper but conversational in practice; the offer call came about a week later.
The author describes preparing for and passing a competency-style interview loop for an MBA shopper insights internship, though she does not state how many rounds it ran to; she leaned on rehearsed STAR answers and a distinctive personal story (running her own business) as her differentiator.
PepsiCo runs two visibly different loops depending on which side of the house you enter. Corporate and campus hiring (finance, accounting, marketing, supply chain, shopper insights) is short and behavioral-heavy: a recruiter or phone touch, then one or two 30-45 minute conversations with the actual finance or marketing leaders, often on Zoom or at an on-campus session, with a light business case bolted on for the finance and MBA tracks. Field and frontline hiring (Frito-Lay merchandisers, route sales, warehouse, CDL drivers) instead layers a phone screen, an in-person interview run by the safety and transportation supervisors with situational questions, and then a job-shadow ride-along or a physical work exercise before any offer, followed by a drug test and background check. The UK graduate scheme is the outlier: online tests up front, then a half-day assessment centre with competency interviews, a role play and a numerical test.
What topics does PepsiCo test in interviews?
Commonly reported topics include Behavioral, STAR stories, Leadership Principles, Case study, Customer scenarios, Conflict handling.
These guides summarize public, first-hand interview experiences shared by candidates. They describe the shape of each loop and the topics that came up, not a leaked question bank, and every experience links back to its original source. Processes change often; treat this as directional prep, not a script.