The interview consisted of two parts: reasoning test and behavioral panel interview. Panel interview consisted of the typical behavioral interview questions. The best way to approach the panel interview is to talk with someone who works in P&G Purchasing to find out what qualities and characteristics they are specifically looking for, and try to highlight those in your answers to questions. I conduct interviews for my company (not P&G), and I recently rejected a candidate with a 3.8 GPA while accepting a candidate with a 3.2 GPA because the 3.2 demonstrated the key characteristics we look for, while the 3.8 did not. Every company is looking for specific characteristics, but of course that's inside information at each company. P&G's "promote-from-within" culture discourages the employees (and thus interviewers) from valuing outside experience the way other companies typically do. If you are coming in straight from college or MBA with little work experience, you have a big advantage because P&G sees you as someone who can be easily molded to align with the company's culture and ways of doing things. Show them that you are a leader, you work well with others, you are curious, and are relatively competent, and they will hire you. However, if you have significant work experience, I recommend finding a way to show your interviewer that you are open minded and have great respect for the P&G ways. Even work experience that seems very applicable to the job for which you are interviewing may not be viewed by your interviewer the way you view your work experience. He or she will want to determine whether your relevant experience will be a hindrance in your embracing the P&G ways of doing things. Learn about P&G's corporate philosophy from a P&G employee prior to the interview if you can. P&G has been an extremely successful company for a very long time with this type of culture, so don't communicate to the interviewer that you want to come to P&G and change the way things are done. Many P&G employees believe that P&G is the very best company that one can possibly work for, and that working for any other company in the world would be very undesirable. P&G's success gives it's employees good reason to believe that. Employees who are not open minded are very prone to believe in P&G exceptionalism. Make sure not to say anything that might rub such a person the wrong way. If you dislike P&G's insular culture, it might not be the right place for you to work. For most entry-level positions (though I don't know about marketing, P&G's crown jewel job), P&G is looking for individuals who are demonstrate the desired interpersonal skills and who are "smart enough." They're not necessarily looking for 4.0 GPA geniuses. That's why the reasoning test is not excessively difficult. The great thing about the "promote-from-within" culture is that after you are in, the company won't bring in outsiders to fill positions above you and thus steal your promotion. This philosophy is a great example that shows how tremendously P&G values it's employees.
The reasoning test was not difficult, but it was harder than the online reasoning test. You can use a basic function calculator for the reasoning test. About half of the on-site interviewees fail the reasoning test and are therefore not eligible for job offers. You have to move through the questions quickly. There is not enough time to think through how to solve a question that puzzles you. If you don't immediately know how to solve the question, move on and come back if you have time - otherwise you will not finish the test.
The first 20 questions are basic arithmetic questions. Example question type: "Half of last year's fruit sales were apples, and 1/3 of the remaining sales were oranges. 1/3 of the total sales were pears. 300 more pears were sold than oranges. How many total pieces of fruit were sold last year?" Be careful about your arithmetic and that one is fairly straightforward. Just make sure you are able to solve it quickly. Another example: "The price of a watch was increased by 20% during a promotion, then decreased by 30%. What % lower was the final price of the watch relative to the original price?"
