The interview process for this position is lengthy and tedious. Not necessarily an unpleasant experience, but certainly a bit nerve-racking.
Here is a breakdown of the steps I took:
-I was an employee referral, and was contacted via email by a recruiter to set what they called an 'initial phone call'
-Initial phone call lasted about 20 mins; it was a mini-interview, asking basic questions regarding my background, how I know the person who referred me and also some prompts to talk about previous achievements. At the end, you are given directions for a writing assignment which you are to email to the recruiter to continue the process.
-About a day after submitting my 'essay,' I received an email to schedule the next interview with a recruiter. This interview was an hour long, and was a little more in-depth than the first, although a lot of the same questions were asked again. At the end, I was told I would be receiving an email to schedule the next phone interview.
-Next phone interview was a conference call with two hiring managers and lasted close to an hour and a half. They asked for concrete examples of previous successes, examples of competitiveness (read: this one is important), and a lot of questions regarding what my 'motivation' and 'drive' is (again, these questions are key). At the end, I was told I would receive an email letting me know if I made it to the next step, which would be the final in-person panel interview in Ft.Myers.
-Received an email same day; Gartner would fly me out to Ft.Myers (expenses paid) for the final interview, and I was to prepare a powerpoint presentation for the panel.
-The final interview started with a face-to-face with a current client partner for me to ask questions, followed by a debriefing by a recruiter about what to expect. Finally, two local VPs and two hiring managers came in to interview me. A LOT of the same questions as the phone interviews were asked- 95%, I had been asked before. The recurrent theme of the interview was 'how are you competitive' and 'tell us all about why you'd be a top performer'. After the interview, I was asked to write a few paragraphs about what I 'took away' from the interview process.
So this final panel interview is apparently where things went wrong for me; although I felt confident throughout it, and answered the questions in the same manner that I had been answering them all throughout the previous phone interviews. I cited specific examples of previous accomplishments and feel that I portrayed myself as more than sufficiently ambitious. The feedback that I was given at the end of interview was almost entirely positive.
**A few days later I received a phone call from the employee who had referred me, saying that he had been informed that I did not get the job. This in my opinion, was very unprofessional, and I was only contacted by Gartner a day after this occurred. I think I certainly should have been notified of the outcome first. **
According to Gartner, they hire based on traits (there is a whole list of what they're looking for in a CP), and not experience. This proved to be entirely UNTRUE, as the reason I was given by the recruiter for not getting the job was that my examples of previous experience were not very strong. This was particularly confusing to me, as I had cited many examples of the traits they wanted by referring to previous work and university experiences. Apparently, the examples I gave where good enough for Gartner to spend money to fly me out for the interview, but held no weight in the end.
Additionally, the recruiter said that the panel had concluded I was 'a bit nervous' during the interview,and that when dealing with clients this may be a setback...this, again, was confusing as a part of the feedback the panel gave me at the end of the interview was that I 'seemed very relaxed, was a great speaker and was very articulate' (I quote this almost word for word).
There was definitely a great deal of inconsistencies throughout the process, and I personally do not buy into Gartner's claim that they hire based on traits.
Aside from this, there were positives:
-Everyone I spoke to was very professional, approachable and friendly
-You were given very good expectations of what your next step would entail
-Questions were encouraged and welcomed throughout the process, and were answered in detail.
-Face to face with client partner was very helpful in teaching me about the role (make sure to prepare questions)
Expect to invest a lot of time, this process can take months!
I don't want to say the experience was all-out negative, so I will rate as neutral.
