Monarch Beverage Graphic Designer Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jan 2012 in Indianapolis, IN (took 4+ weeks)

The interview process is long, tedious and outdated, which is surprising for a company of this stature. First, I had to take an online skills assessment test in Photoshop and Illustrator 8, which came out in 1998. Then, the recruiting manager called me to set up an appointment. She interviewed me to see if I was a good fit for the company, to see if I'd fit in with their "culture" and stressed that Monarch had "high standards for hiring." She asked me to tell her about myself and didn't really ask anything insightful. I showed her my portfolio briefly. She said that the creative director wanted to meet with me, but she had to run my background check before she could set the appointment. I met with the creative director who was bright, progressive, talented and seemed very committed to a high standard of work. We clicked. I liked him a lot. I presented to him and then left. The next day, I was sent a link to take another assessment. The first part was a proficiency test in Microsoft Word, the next part was about sales - which I had no idea about... it was all math about percentages, etc. Then there was a word test like on the SATs and then there was a personality test. The whole thing took about 2 hours to complete. The questions were about what you'd expect. Vague statements that are intended to shed some sort of light about what kind of a person you are - in your last job, did you work harder or about the same as the rest of the people you worked with? I had no idea how to answer any of this, so I answered honestly. But as always, the questions could have been interpreted in many ways. After that test, the recruiting manager and creative director (who again reminded me that Monarch has a high standard for hiring) had to put together a report that would be presented to the CEO, who is very picky about who he hires. If you're not completely squeaky clean, don't even bother. They check your credit, college, driver's record, call all of your past employers, references, make you take a bunch of tests. All in all, I had eight hours invested in this process. The interview with the guy I would have actually been working for was great. He was pleasant and it was relevant. The rest was a waste of everyone's time and resources. But they have high standards for hiring.