IHS Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – Phone call from recruiter for a phone screen, then in person interview with the hiring manager and team.

Interview Details – I was contacted by one of the recruiters, The interview process went smoothly with me seeing in total 3 employees before finally meeting the director. The interview went well still awaiting a final decision in 2 or 3 weeks.

Interview Details – Recruiter set me up for this interview with the promise that they were looking for recent graduates. The interviewers were very nice, but I quickly learned that they were in fact seeking someone with at least three years of experience. Not a knock against the company, just an unfortunate waste of both my time and the interviewers'.

Interview Details – My friend at the employer introduced me to a colleague, a Director, via email. The Director wrote to set up a phone interview. That interview ran just a few minutes to establish that I would be interested in the role and said I would be hearing from HR about phone interviews.

At least a week elapsed and, after I sent a reminder, the HR person contacted me a set up two phone interviews. The first of those interviews was pretty easy and non-technical. The second was technical and difficult as it focused on topics that I have not performed recently.

Another week elapsed and they invited me to the office for two interviews, one with the original Director and one with another Director. The interviewer was fifteen minutes late for my interview. He explained that he was meeting with the CIO and could not leave. An excuse, I suppose, but not a very good one. He explained in more detail the role, as did the second interviewer. I do not remember much of those interviews; I do not believe any of the questions were hard. During that same visit I met with the first Director for a second time where we discussed my goals. That time was probably well spent because the employer ultimately decided against extending an offer because the position did not match my goals. Kudos to me for speaking honestly and to them for listening.

In addition to those interviews I was to talk to an SVP via phone later that day (he was to call). He never called. The HR person apologized and said she would set another time; she did not.

Another week elapsed and the HR person wrote to say there was "a change", that the position now reported to a new person (who does not work from the Denver office). In fact, the original Director had alerted me to that change during my in-person interview. The HR person set a phone interview with the actual supervisor.

That interview was easy, too. The interviewer did not seem prepared. He repeated to me the role he was looking to fill and I repeated to him my career goals.

Interview Details – Contacted by HR, set up face to face interview the following week. Met with 1 senior analyst, 3 managing director and 1 district manager. Heard back from HR the following day, saying they would like to make an offer. Received the offer letter package in a week.
Friendly people, nice environment.

Interview Details – The interview lasted around 2 hours. It was a group interview with 3 employees, one division head and two directors. At the very beginning, they asked several behavioral questions mainly focusing on previous working background and how these experience may help the candidate to contribute at this position. Then They gave me a case question and 10 minutes for preparation. The last piece was a simplified case question. They asked me to explain the approach I would take to find the answer.

Interview Details – Talked to a recruiter regarding one job - then asked if I would consider another role within the organization. Had a phone interview with a colleague in the UK and then progressed to a meeting with a more senior interviewer in the US. Interviewer said I was better suited to another group and forwarded my details.... 3 weeks later I was called up and offered a role after a short telephone conversation.

Negotiation Details – Read the fine print and make sure you go in at the right level - Don't take a high salary and expect the LTI's to follow...Better to take a lower salary and hold out for a higher grade with better bonus and LTI options. Get everything in writing.... My offer changed 3 or 4 times.

Interview Details – Applied online for a senior project manager position. HR called me months (like over 6 months) later for an interview.

Initial phone screen: Totally just an HR person checking experience against the job description provided her. I had EVERY SINGLE requirement on the list, which amazed her so she got me in for a set of 3 interviews the next day.

Face to Face interviews: I interviewed with the manager I would report to, his boss and the boss's boss. Started at the highest level and went down. 3 Hour block. Here is the problem. The high up guy was charismatic and nice, but knew little about the day to day job (plus he was new to his own position). The boss's boss was in a hurry to go somewhere else, totally unprepared and asked long questions even he didn't understand (seriously if you asked what he meant, he said oh I don't know I am not prepared). OK?!

The last interview should have been the first, it was with the hiring manager. He did just as the HR person did and went line by line through the job description. He actually crossed off 15 of the 30 bullets of "requirements" and said he didn't "give a crap" about them. He had no idea what a PMP was (seriously, I had to explain it). Zippo about six sigma (mind you this was a huge part of the job description I was given) and wanted all kinds of experience with SAP which was no where on the requirements. I asked him about how they usually manage a project and what software they use and he had no idea. He stated he wasn't a project manager so he didn't really know.

Bottom line: It was a total waste of time. They had no idea what they wanted or needed and wasted an afternoon of my life. While they all seemed nice enough, it seems like a pretty basic thing to have interview questions ready and actually know what requirements you need for the project you are staffing. Made me wonder what working there would be like. Plus there were A LOT of questions about how I could get people to work if they didn't want to and how I dealt with hostility - yikes!

I gave HR feedback that their req for the job was completely off and they might want to get with the hiring manager to get his needs so they get the right person. They got REALLY snippy with me that I didn't know what I was talking about. They are officially off my list.

P.S. I interviewed at a building next to their main office. It was really dingy and old, but they have a huge office next door that might be nicer. This one was gray, dark and dirty.

Interview Details – Initial contact via phone by HR Recruiter.
First interview with hiring manager for 30 minutes via phone. Hiring manager asked lots of general background/skill questions. No time for candidate to ask any questions.
Second interview in person with hiring manager and hiring manager's boss - 1 hour with each of them separately. Conclusion was they were interviewing and would narrow down to 3 candidates for second in-person interviews within 2 weeks.

3 weeks later....HR finally returns follow-up calls made at 1 week and 2 weeks post in-person interview. No input yet from hiring manager; they are still interviewing and should have final three candidates identified within a week. 1.5 weeks later....no communication. Followup voicemail left by candidate-no response.

Perceptions - have heard from current employees that the hiring process is very slow. Took a year from first contact for a developer to get hired with an employee referral and excellent credentials!

Director level has very small office. First line manager level and below have cubicles. Entrance to building is secure and requires badge or visitor sign-in. Company has had lots of mergers and acquisitions; integration of these different companies results in disjointed culture.