Oakwood Worldwide Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – - Initial phone call from recruiter
- Interviewed with a Manager, took about a full hour, very pleasant interviewer
- Came in about a week later for another interview with another Manager, about an hour as well, secondary interviewer was pleasant as well
- Professional and quiet place for the interview

Interview Details – I had two phone interviews with recruiters. The first interview was quite easy and the interviewer very friendly. The Head Recruiter called me for the second and asked more difficult but fairly predictable questions. She was not as friendly and more matter-of-fact. I scheduled a third in person interview and this all happened in a matter of 5 days.

Interview Details – The interview process started out OK, but ended up very strange. It started with a phone interview with a recruiter, which went well. The next step was to speak with the VP of Marketing via phone. About a week after speaking with the recruiter, I got a call from the VP. She and I had a really good conversation and she told me then that I would be invited for an in-person interview. The recruited called me a few days later to schedule the meeting. When I arrived, I was met by the recruiter and she was very nice. She went over how the process would work. I was going to have two meetings where I'd be speaking with two people in each. She told me that she would call me the next day to provide feedback and get my thoughts about the meeting. I was scheduled to meet with the VP and 3 Directors. I first sat down with the VP and a Brand Director.

 From the start I had a bad feeling. I had had a really good, long conversation with the VP on the phone so I was feeling pretty confident that the sit down would go well, but the Director just gave off an intensely cold energy and I couldn't get into the rhythm of conversing with her. It was so off-putting that I couldn't even look at her which is unusual for me because I'm a very confident and outgoing person, but she really creeped me out. By the end of that meeting, I didn't even feel the same rapport with the VP that I had had over the phone. From there I met with the other two Directors. That conversation seemed to go much better and I felt more like myself, but once we were done the female Director's parting words were "Well, it's the first week of interviews." Otherwise known as the "kiss of death". I knew right then that this was not going to happen. I didn't hear from the recruiter the next day, but I sent a "Thank You" to the VP anyway to be polite. I said in my note that everyone had made me feel comfortable, but that really wasn't true. The first female Director was very stand-offish, the second was a little aloof and hard to read, and the male Director was the friendliest and most engaged of the bunch.

I almost didn't apply for the job because I had a friend who had done some contract work for Oakwood a few years ago, and I remembered that she didn't have good things to say about the place. One of her complaints was that the Chairman was not a fan of diversity. I didn't meet him so I can't comment about what kind of person he is or is not, but one thing that was immediately clear as I sat in the lobby and watched employees walking about was that there was not one single person of color. I didn't see any once I was in the offices either. After my interview, I told my friend about my experience and she told me that that was the pretty much the case when she was there. She did recall a couple of Asian employees, but said they were pretty well tucked away in the back. Again, I didn't see any people of color at all so I can't confirm whether there were any tucked away anywhere. I know that the the President of the company is Hispanic and I think the HR person is as well, but I think with the large number of Hispanics working on the properties as maids and maintenance people, it would be necessary to have some people that could hire and manage a large portion of the personnel.

Overall, it was an "experience". Not really a big loss since I don't think I would have enjoyed the people or the work environment. The office is really dark and musty. According to my friend, the building used to be a grocery store so there are few windows and the ventilation is not the best.

Interview Details – First, I received a call from a Recruiter in the LA office and went through a very simple and easy phone interview. Then I went into their local office and did a very laid back and easy interview with a manager there. A few hours later I received an offer for employment. The company seems very easy going and the people were very friendly. I waited for about 20 minutes before my interview, which I didn't mind, it gave me a chance to observe the employees and they seemed very happy. The office was very quiet and laid back, which is great.

Negotiation Details – I didn't negotiate, I felt the pay is very high compared to the duties required.

Interview Details – The interview process first began with a brief phone interview with talent acquisition. After the phone interview they set up a in-person interview later in the week at their headquarters. Their headquarters is very nice and they have their own parking structure, which was both impressive and a relief. If you work in Los Angeles, you understand the importance. Walking through their headquarters was also impressive. You can quickly tell that they maintain a professional, yet friendly atmosphere. The in-person interview was a series of one-on-one interviews with various people in management. The first interview was with a talent specialist who was extremely kind and open and she helped me throughout the whole process. She was very informative and consistently checked on me between interviews to ask if I needed anything and to tell me a tiny bit about the next person that would interview me. The next three interviews were with various levels of management, all of whom were very kind and friendly. They made it easy to be comfortable. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience.

Negotiation Details – Since it was an internship, there was no room for negotiation but that's a given with internships. You take what they offer.

Interview Details – I found the interview process at Oakwood to be a bit extensive. After having a few calls with the recruiter, I was finally granted a telephone interview with the Marketing Director--who seemed somewhat aloof about the position being offered. I was then contacted again by the recruiter. She set up an in-person interview wit h the hiring Director and another Director. Both seemed unprepared to ask questions regarding the position. I got the feeling that they were moreso looking for a "buddy" type person for the position and not necessarily skill sets related to the position. I also didn't think the Director in charge had a grasp on the position being hired for.

Another red flag for me was when they said the person hired into the position quite after 2 weeks due to "commute." hmmm.

Anyway, after meeting with the two Directors, I was contacted by the recruiter who--I must add was very nice. She let me know that I would now meet with the VP, Marketing. I arrived for yet another interview with the VP and she was skilled and knew a lot about the position and what it entailed. After meeting with her the recruiter contacted me to say that the VP enjoyed speaking with me and that the chances were "looking good" for me for the position.

To backtrack, I was asked to fill out 5 pages of documents--which included paperwork for the company to run a background check on me. So, after going through numerous interviews, I would still need to have a background check conducted. This whole process was extremely tedious.

At long last, I received a call from the recruiter who said that I didn't receive the job. The hiring manager--the one who didn't seem to have a firm grasp on the job--decided not to hire me.

Sigh, what a long, crazy process.

Interview Details – I found the position online and applied. I got a call from an internal recruiter and was asked to come into the office. I did a brief meet & greet with the interviewer then asked if I would come back another time for a skills test. I came back for a skills test then was asked if I would come back to meet with one of the HR guys. I think there was one other meeting after that, then out of the blue, they called and said they were "no longer recruiting for the position." I called back several times to find out what happened, by the time the recruiter returned my call, I didn't really care anymore.

Then about a month later (maybe more) I get a call from the recruiter asking if I was still interested in the job. At the time I was very interested - she asked that I meet the director of HR but her schedule wasn't conducive to mine, so at the last minute (lucky I was available) they had me meet with the Chairman at his home. Delightful guy - we talked for a long time and I think I made a good impression on him.

An odd comment from the recruiter was that I would be expected to "defend your resume" I'm not sure what that means - did they think I had erroneous information on it?

I was then asked to come in to meet the President/COO - I arrived at the office and waited 45 minutes when I was told he couldn't make the meeting. After all the hoops I had jumped through, I was a little annoyed but understood that these things happen. I later had a phone interview (at my suggestion) with him, and he was very candid about the position and asked pointed questions about my background. I asked relevant questions of him - and he responded with very interesting information about the company and his relationship with the Chairman. Very cool guy and very nice. I appreciated his candid remarks.

I met with the HR Director today and again had a very candid interview. I wish I had had this one way earlier in the process, could have saved a lot of trouble. She was wonderful and kind but very honest about the position.

Notes:
Culture is very old school corporate, slightly outdated technology but the people are wonderful - I could see being friends with them too. But it's not a good fit for everyone.

The work environment is very old school and outdated - kind of feels like your working in a basement - very little windows, low ceilings, and beige all over.

Based on my impressions from my interview process, the company doesn't know what it wants from this role.
But knows it needs something.

When talking with recruiting firms (Apple, Act1, Career Group, Glocap etc.) they all warned me about the position and how many people have been cycled out of it - especially during the interview process and that the company was on/off about the role.

Salary is good but the chances of long term success in this role seem slim, plus - not sure there is any room for advancement which would make the experience a bit more palatable.

The Chairman and his constituents have different ideas of what the position should be, that should be your first clue.

I'm not sure this position is easily filled. Go into it with your eyes wide open because the people and the company are not going to change although they are all terrific.

Reason for Declining – I didn't think I could succeed in the role given its history (or lack of), the expectations of the Chairman and the other senior executives, and the nature of the role - unrealistic. It really bummed me out because the pay was great and the people are so nice, it's just that gut feeling about the dysfunction in the workplace.

Interview Details – First a phone interview, then a 1-on-1 with the manager. Heard back soon after that I got the job.

Interview Details – I was told of an open position by a relative that works with the company, was given the application the night before, turned it in around 8am the following morning. The man in charge wanted me to be interviewed right away...interview went extremely well. I was told that they wanted to hire me right away, but had to wait because they needed to hold a meeting with the higher ups. I was woken up at around 1:30ish the same day and was asked a couple of questions by an HR recruiter, was told that I passed and I need to turn in information for a background check that it would take a week before it was cleared and I would be called once everything came clean

Negotiation Details – I wasn't able to negotiate, I was simply told how much I would be getting paid by the HR recruiter.