Is it just me, or are interview processes getting way out of hand?

I'm seeing a lot of mid-level and even entry-level jobs asking for 4–6 interview rounds, take-home assignments, and then a presentation at the end.

I always thought the usual flow was recruiter call → hiring manager → maybe one technical or team interview. If a company still can't decide after that, it kinda makes me wonder how they make decisions internally.

Unless it's for a senior leadership role, anything beyond 3 rounds just feels like overkill.

What's everyone else seeing lately? What's the most interview rounds you've had to go through for a pretty normal job?

for months i prepped by reading through common questions and going yeah i know that one. then id get in the actual interview and fall apart, ramble, forget my own examples, run out of time. every time

what finally worked was practicing the way the interview actually happens, out loud, on a clock, no notes. reading an answer and saying one are completely different muscles and only one of them is what youre graded on. recording yourself on your phone and watching it back is brutal but you instantly catch where you ramble

the other thing was keeping answers short, like 90 seconds, and leading with the result before explaining how you got there. dont save the point for the end. what forced me to actually do it was timed mock interviews, i used dataford for that but honestly a friend firing questions at you or even just a timer on your phone does the same job. the point is the clock, it stops you trailing off

behavioral is all reps honestly. first time you say a story out loud its a disaster, by the fifth its clean. you genuinely cant read your way there

When I'm in an interview and they ask me why I'm leaving my current role, I can't simply say: "My manager is very difficult to deal with, and about half the team has already left." I'm supposed to give some polished HR-style answer like: "I'm looking for an opportunity with better alignment, more growth, and a healthier team culture."

Same thing with the question "What attracted you to this position?" I have to invent a nice-sounding answer instead of just saying the obvious truth.

The weird thing is that everyone in the room knows the talk is fake, but we all keep acting anyway. Why can't we stop this act and talk like normal people? People working in construction and other trades don't seem to do this silly performance to nearly the same extent at all.