I originally applied for the position in early August. I got a call about a month later asking if I was still interested in the position. The recruiter explained that there would be a phone interview to begin with that would involve simply going through my resume with someone. If they were satisfied with that I would then go on to another phone interview, this time a little more in depth about my experiences. At this point if I made it through that round I would be brought in for a face-to-face interview.
My first phone interview was about two weeks later. As was stated, all we really did was go through my resume and I answered a few questions here and there about it. It was a very low-key, informal interview. I actually ended up talking with the interviewer about my soccer experiences more than anything else on my resume (their child was just starting to play soccer).
I got a call a few days later informing me that I had made it to the next round and that they would like to set up another phone interview. This is when things starting to go downhill. The recruiter asked when I would be free the next week and I told her that I was free the entire week except for one 2-hour gap on one of the days that I would be available. I then received an email the next week confirming the time and date of my second phone interview, which happened to be during the exact time I was unavailable. The problem was that I received the email the day before my interview. In a panic, I called the recruiter and let her know what had happened and that I needed to reschedule and it almost seemed like she was angry that I was rescheduling last second.
The interview was rescheduled for the next week and I made sure it was during a time I would be available. This interview was exactly what I was expecting; a series of "tell me about a time you..." questions. It was much more in-depth than the first interview but the interviewer was very kind and easy to talk to so it really wasn't bad at all.
A few weeks had gone by since the second phone interview so I had assumed I hadn't made it past that round. Then I got a call to schedule the office visit. The recruiter could tell I was confused and asked if I knew I had made it to the next round. When I told her no, I hadn't heard anything she mentioned that they probably got me confused with someone else they already called. Really? At this point I wasn't too impressed with the recruiter and just hoped I would be able to get through the process without anymore hiccups.
The office visit was very nice. There was a group of about 10 of us that were scheduled for the late morning interviews. To start, a group of current consulting analyst gave us a little run through of what was going to be going on during the day in terms of the interviewing process, as well as an information session on Accenture. The interviews themselves were very similar to the second phone interview; a lot of questions about times when I had to lead a group, was recognized for my performance, had a problem that needed to be fixed, etc. I thought it went very well.
A couple of weeks later I received an email saying that unfortunately Accenture would not be able to continue employment talks with me. It seemed like a typical rejection email that could have been received even if I hadn't made it to the first phone interview. I felt that after all the time I had put into the interview process, it was a little unprofessional to simply fire off an email to me telling me I wasn't getting an offer.
All in all, the interviews themselves were quite enjoyable and I had a lot of fun in that aspect. The interview process, as a whole, left a bitter taste in my mouth, however. I was not impressed by the whole ordeal.