To me, rounds imply a decision point (and delay) in between.
If I talk to HR on Monday, take a phone screen with an engineer on Wednesday, and come on-site (or Zoom now) with 4 engineers next Monday, that’s 2 rounds and 5 interviews (or 3 and 6 if you count HR)
> To me, rounds imply a decision point (and delay) in between.
My experience has been that if you clear the engineering phone screen the company asks you to go through all the rest of the (4-6) interviews, even if your performance in one or more of them has been sub-par. And at least here in India the post-screen interviews are spread out over several days to 2-3 weeks - there is no "onsite" as such, even over Zoom.
And this is why the distinction is important. You could have an offer by Wednesday. That's a 10-day turnaround, and no one was stringing the other party along. When you consider scheduling, unless both parties are desperate, the process couldn't reasonably go much faster.
