Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – Pretty easy interviewing process. Applied online and was contacted for an interview about 2 weeks later. One round, 50 min interview with the manager of the group and the group lead, who were very nice and warm throughout the interview. Mostly behavioral questions, the most technical that it got were questions about my work experience, but no questions that didn't come straight from my resume.

Interview Details – I applied online. Recruiter called me about a month later and told me I had the qualifications they were looking for. I had a brief follow-up binterview with the recruiter a week later. The recruiter gave me a date range for in-person interviews and told me to be available. Two weeks after that I was formally invited to an in-person interview.

Interview consisted of the following:
1) 45 minute essay writing sample.
2) then 45 minute meetings with different groups. One of the groups was the recruiter by himself.

Interview was typical behavior style questions. They basically want to make sure you will work well with the existing group/new hires. The only issue was during my interviews, the one with the recruiter (the same one that told me I had all the qualifications and gave me the "wink and nod" about the formal interviews) decided he was going to start vetting candidates right then and there.

Recruiter questions:
1) "You don't have an MBA, but have been out of school awhile. Why didn't you go back and get it or are you planning on getting it? I answered that I would be interested in getting one, but my number one priority would be my job responsibilities and if an MBA was required, then yes I would absolutely pursue one after hours. The recruiter made a weird face and said something along the lines of he's surprised I applied without one. I believe it was an ego play by the recruiter.
2) "Tell me about a challenge you have overcome." I explained a situation where I was given a problem to fix with no knowledge of what was happening by my employer other then "something is happening down there". I explained how it was a "fire drill" and I organized the task, raised a team, and overcame the challenge while establishing procedures to prevent it from happening again in the future. Recruiter then started asking very pointed questions such as, "Why would you take a project without knowing what is wrong? How is that possible?", "Why would you want to work for a company that doesn't tell you anything?" The recruiter was pretty tasteless and I did not want to trash talk my current employer, so I had to play my accomplishment down.

In summation, I really enjoyed the people I interviewed with except for the recruiter. I believe the recruiter treated me as a "filler spot" to show he was looking for candidates. When the recruiter called me to inform me I was not selected, he told me I didn't really have much experience for the position anyway. I don't see why a professional recruiter would use someone like this or take an "I'm better then you" approach.

Interview Details – I was called about 6:30 PM in regards to setting up a phone interview two weeks later. On the date of the phone interview, the recruiter called me at the wrong time (a sign this would go badly). She asked me to describe me background and as I was speaking, I seemed to be boring her and she let out a HUGE sigh into the phone. She then rudely interrupted me and told me I wasnt what they were looking for - even though they contacted me. Horrible experience; would never look twice at this company.

Interview Details – A short (~30 minutes) phone interview a couple weeks after submitting my application. A couple weeks after that I was invited to come in an interview in person. There were 4-5 ~30 minute interviews with an economist or a pair of economists from various groups, as well as one interview with a pair of associate economists. They mostly wanted to know about past research experiences, experience with statistical software, and classes, roughly in that order.

Interview Details – There was an initial screening interview, followed by an interview with the hiring manager and then the invitation for a four hour marathon on-site interview. The initial screening interview was by telephone with the HR that lasted about 45 minutes. The next interview was with the hiring manager and was by telephone. It was after the interview with the hiring manager that I was invited to visit the Bank for the final interview process. It took four hours with different department heads and there was also a group interview.

Reason for Declining – I initially accepted but before I was to resume, my child fell ill and required surgery.

Interview Details – Entire process from application to start date took about three months. One-on-one interviews were loose, at times almost feeling like they were pitching to me rather than the other way around. Questions meandered, but held themes of process and critical thinking rather than empty accomplishments. Interviewers showed genuine interest in understanding my story, turning what could be difficult questions into a conversation.

Negotiation Details – Was not in a position to negotiate.

Interview Details – Very easy. The recruiter literally begged for me to come in for an interview since it was hard to find people in the field I was interviewing. I talked to a couple of managers, and some leadership people. Easy as cake interview process. VP literally begged me to come on board, helped negotiate a good salary.

Negotiation Details – I told them my bottom line...they gave in.

Interview Details – First met the company at a meet and greet at school. Then got called in for an interview.

Interview Details – After applying online, it took less than a week to get a call from the HR recruiter who was very friendly on the phone. The recruiter scheduled an interview over the phone and asked no further questions. Upon arrivnig on the interview date, the front desk clerks were very nice and helpful. I signed in and the recruiter was called down. After meeting the recruiter, she took me through security and escorted me to the hiring manager. I met the manager who also seemed friendly. The interview was between 30 and 45 minutes long. The position that I applied for consists of technical experience and knowledge so the questions asked were basic questions about networking ("What do you know about networking?, Have you worked with Microsoft Visio?). The manager then gave me a quick background on the position and the Fed. Overall, the interview was quick and easy. I would suggest coming in with some knowlege about the Fed and the position as well as come prepared with questions to ask.