Formal. There was an initial screening then interview with the owner of that location. They asked thorough questions and asked for examples. But overall a good experience.
The whole process took about 3 weeks and it did require some communication on my end about status updates and such.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at SVN (Minneapolis, MN) in Feb 2014
Interview
Laid back, informative, fit based. No technical question, just a 'get to know you' interview to assess fit with the office. Interview only took about an hour. If you can hold a good conversation flow, and show some genuine interest in commercial real estate, it will work out fine.