Easy Interview – Overall Positive Experience – Yes, and I accepted – Sat, 21 Mar 2015
Interviewed Mar 2015(took 21 days)
The interview process was very straightforward and was lax compared to other companies I've interviewed with. I had talked to a recruiter at my university's career fair and was interested in the position so I applied through my school's recruiting site and got an interview offer the day after. They asked me to send a formal application on their website to the office location I'd like to work at and wanted my official transcript mailed. We also received a diagram of a process the day before the interview in preparation for the case study. There were two interviewers and you do 1:1 with each of them (30min behavioral / 30min case interview and you switch interviewers). I did the case interview first and it was about a dysfunctional situation in a business. You get 5min to read the case and take notes (it was a 1-page case). Then, the interviewer asks you some basic questions like the causes, results of client continuing dysfunctional practices, recommendations, what kind of services can Protiviti offer to this client, etc. If you know anything about business, then these things should be very obvious. The interviewer had remembered me from the career fair (even though I hadn't talked to him and didn't think I said anything to make an impression so I was quite surprised). We ended early and had a really casual conversation that wasn't about the job at all. I guess they're really looking for a personable person since this is a client-facing position because, if you made it through to interviews then they're assured that you're smart, but are you likable is the question. For the behavioral, I prepared beforehand by looking through all of the Glassdoor interview questions and there were no surprises. They mostly ask about your teamwork experience (!), strengths, weaknesses, etc. After asking any pertinent job-related questions, I also ended up talking to this interviewer about stuff not related to the job at all (football, actually). A week later they told me that I had made it to the second round, which would be in the office location that I wanted to work at (I'm pretty sure you get your first pick since they tell you before you apply which office locations aren't accepting new people). Since it wasn't the same location that I had interviewed at in the first round, they flew me over and put me in a hotel for free. The second round was a two-day process. The first day, there was a social dinner where you meet a combination of managers and current consultants. It was optional but since they're mostly looking for a culture fit and looking to get to know you as well as giving you the opportunity to get to know the people who will interview you the next day, you get an advantage if you go. It was pretty casual though. The next day, there was a presentation by a top executive on the company culture and values; two 1:1 30min behavioral interviewers with two managers (the company is split between process consultants and technology consultants and one of these managers will be your manager); a group case interview where they give you a dysfunctional business situation and you go through possible causes, recommendations, and then create a really informal presentation; a QA panel with some recently-hired consultants; and then they end it by taking you out to lunch.
Interview Questions
Round 1: Describe a situation where you've had to deal with a difficult team member, what kind of role do you usually take when you're in a group, describe your most difficult project, describe the project you feel is the most innovative/interesting, what is your proudest accomplishment, describe the most difficult thing you have had to do, describe how you deal with group members who aren't doing their share, what is a weakness of yours, why consulting/Protiviti. Case: what do you think are the biggest problems in this situation? How could they have been prevented? What recommendations do you have to offer this client? If you had to pick just one recommendation to implement, what would it be? What services can Protiviti provide for this client? How did you prepare for this interview? What could happen if the client does not follow your recommendations? Round 2: What is the difference between HTML/CSS? How can you tell that a webpage is using CSS? What is a join in SQL? What is the Internet? Describe the Internet. What made you choose your university? What do you do in your free time? Do you like traveling? Why consulting/Protiviti (again)
Answer Question
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Presentation
