Northrop Grumman Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – Beware! The 1st HR manager to contact you will make it sound like you are coming in to just interview with that 1 HR manager for an initial interview. Once you get into the building they bombard you with a panel interview with 8+ managers in a conference room. They want to see how candidates perform under pressure. This is a newer approach to interviews with Northrop Grumman and is the norm going forward. Be prepared!

Reason for Declining – I didn't think that the surprise interview tactic was nearly as funny as the HR manager did. It's merely a preview of the companies activities and is certainly not a company I am interested in being associated with.

Interview Details – The process was very straight forward. I had been contacted by NGC about possible work. I had a quick conversation with our group director. It was short and I was told that in the near future a position would be opening up soon. About 1.5 months later I was contacted and a phone interview was scheduled. The phone interview was about 20 minutes long. After which I was asked to come in for a formal in-person interview.
The in-person interview was a panel interview with three managers which last 3 hours. This may seem long, but the interview was very relaxed and the panel was actually very nice and welcoming. The three hours went by very fast.

Negotiation Details – It was very straight forward. I had another offer on the table. And I was honest. And they matched the offer.

Interview Details – When I was first hired, they asked a lot of questions about my experience in the military. It wasn't a stressful interview or one with canned questions - they were very personable. When they asked questions, they were happy to clarify the type of answer they were looking for. When I later changed positions, the interviews were pretty informal and essentially just a "check in the box for HR".

Negotiation Details – I had been out of college for over 2 years - at the time, 3 years was the cutoff for being considered a college hire. The good thing was that a department requisition was not required. The bad thing was that the offer was non-negotiable (but it wasn't bad).

Interview Details – I signed up for an on-campus interview with the company when they came for our university Career Fair, but "due to scheduling conflicts" I was given a phone interview (screen) with a recruiter. I thought it went very well and I was told that I would be "moving on" and my resume would be passed along to hiring managers of the departments I mentioned I was interested in.

Four weeks then went by and I heard nothing, but the recruiter had told me that hiring managers have real jobs, too, so it might take a while. I contacted my recruiter and was told my resume is still being sent around; after another three weeks, my email to the same recruiter has not been replied to.

Interview Details – This being my first interview while transitioning out of the military, I had no idea what to expect. When I sat down and interviewed with the hiring manager for a job I was currently doing in uniform, it seemed to go well. The hiring manager acted like my friend and everything seemed like it would work out in my favor. I was told I would hear back from the interviewer in few days, but it took over two weeks to hear anything and it was simply that I was no longer in consideration and I would be contacted by the company. I was never contacted by the company. During the whole interview process the hiring manager acted as if it was a foregone conclusion that the job was mine.

Interview Details – Interview was very one sided in asking me questions about my resume and basic behavioral questions. Nothing technical was asking. Was an easy interview.

Interview Details – I had one interview with the VP in government contracts and one with the Dept Mgr, I went through an agency.

Negotiation Details – It was a long term contract position. The offer was known through the agency

Interview Details – Contact from the recruiter, phone interview with the hiring manager, interview with several of the department members

Interview Details – NGC is a big company and it shows. You don't really have an offer until you have a written one in hand - even if the recruiter says they're going forward with an offer and you'll see it in a few days.

The long version:

Two recruiters told me that they wanted me to interview for three NGC positions. My first two interviews went so well that one recruiter advised me to abandon the third lead. One recruiter emails me on a Thursday to tell me that they're going forward with an offer and that I should hear something early the next week.

I didn't hear anything for two weeks after I was told I would be getting an offer in a few days. I delayed accepting another offer to give NGC a chance to follow through on their promised offer. My emails/voicemails to the recruiter went unanswered.

I eventually had to give up on NGC based on the recruiters' lack of response. I accepted another offer and courteously informed all my POC at NGC that I am withdrawing my interest. Only then did that job-offering recruiter reply back to tell me that they filled the position internally.

Since I had already withdrawn, I cannot fathom any professional purpose justifying their telling me that they have selected another candidate. (you didn't really withdraw your interest, we rejected you!) That information would have been relevant and professional before I withdrew. Instead, the recruiter ignored me while I tried to give them consideration with another offer in hand.

Everybody in the interviews themselves were very nice, pleasant, and professional. My negative experience came afterwards with the recruiters and, possibly, the hiring managers.

In theory, I had three leads, two very interested hiring managers, and one offer of employment. In reality, I had bad communication, recruiters not returning my calls, a false job offer, and a spiteful response telling me that my withdrawal was moot because I would not have been hired anyway.