The last two places that offered me jobs interviewed me twice each. The one before that, it was a fairly easy half-hour solo technical test, then an interview.

The last two places that offered me jobs interviewed me twice each. The one before that, it was a fairly easy half-hour solo technical test, then an interview. I think that's the sweet spot, frankly - a fizzbuzz-level coding challenge and then a single interview to which all stakeholders show up. Maybe two interviews at most, and that's only if you can't get everybody in a room together at the same time. And when I say "all stakeholders," I really mean no more than about 4 people: a peer, a mentor, a boss, and at most one counterpart from another team that interfaces closely with that team, but I digress. I've never had to put up with more than 2 interviews, and probably wouldn't. But I'm not in the Valley, and I'm generally not applying to the Big Five as it were. You know it occurs to me there's a possibility your recruiter is just over-preparing every candidate to expect the worst. Or who knows, maybe 5 to 7 interviews is normal for clients of that particular recruiter, because they've got a reputation for shoveling idiots through the door? In other words, it seems like there could theoretically exist a recruiter whose clients take their recommendations so seriously that they don't even interview you once!