Public Consulting Group Interview Questions & Reviews in Boston, MA Area

Interview Details – Phone screen with Hiring Manager and Management Team followed by a panel of interviews with top leadership CTO, Peer managers and hiring manager

Interview Details – Phone call with a recruiter then in-office visit. Met with direct manager and another employee 2:1 interview set up

Interview Details – Overall the interview was pretty straight forward. I met with the hiring manager and discussed what was being sought in a candidate, what was expected from the position, and detailed out my work history, skills, and other relevant details.

Negotiation Details – They made an offer, I countered and they met me half way. I negotiated education reimbursement benefits into the package and we shook on it.

Interview Details – 3 interviews in one day, behavioral.

Negotiation Details – No negotiation

Interview Details – Good technical questions. Server hardware, storage.

VMWare architecture based qyuestions.

Negotiation Details – Aksed and they agreed

Interview Details – This was as trying an interview process as I can remember with a company. PCG recruited me from my prior position (CIO) into this CTO position. It took six months of arduous discussions for the process to get completed. There were endless discussions with business managers, and interviews with the company CIO and the practice leader for Technology Consulting. I found out later that the Practice Area did not even want to hire me, but the hire was pressed upon them by the company CIO. I should never have accepted this position. The two years I was there was a living hell. This company is torment for anyone in information technology. Stay the hell away from it!!! The principals of this company refuse to invest in the infrastructure of the company, so there are more outages every day than you will ever see in any other company this size. The business leaders are only interested in taking their money out of the business. They will ride the IT people into the ground, and then say you didn't do well enough to get your meager annual bonus.

I was called into the Boston office while I was on vacation in the fifth month of negotiating with PCG, and then they left me sitting in the recpetion area for over an hour. I was angry enough to get up and leave, telling the receptionist they needed to reschedule the interview. When I got back home, I sent them an email withdrawing from further consideration. They asked me to remain in the process, and ultimately gave me the job. I should have followed my gut reaction. This company is a loser. They treat their IT people extremely poorly. I worked 60-70 hours a week every week I was with this company, travelled a lot, and PCG looked for ways to discount my contributions. They undercut my authority as a leader. They publicly embarrassed me and others on the IT staff, and got mad when I defended my staff.

The business managers make 5-6 times what they pay the CTO position at PCG. I made a base salary of $153K and an annual bonus of 20 percent which they never totally paid. PCG always paid less than my full 20 percent bonus. The most annual bonus money they paid me was $25,000. I made more money 14 years ago at other IT companies that truly valued their people. In contrast, PCG paid the business managers who do not even do any business development work, it is done by a third party company, between $400K and $700K per year. The Practice Area director in Education draws almost $2 million a year from the business, and spends his time traversing the country, playing on his iPad. Then PCG tells the IT people that we are not worth the pittance PCG wants to pay them. PCG does not care about IT people. Avoid this company like the plague!

Negotiation Details – PCG HR will send you a final offer that you either accept or reject ... there is no negotiation with this company. I should have rejected my offer and run away as quickly as I could. I am recommending anyone in IT do that now. This will be the most bitter, unpleasant job you have ever had if you ignore my advice.

Interview Details – The process was very drawn out. I applied in the end of June and as not contacted until mid-August. At first I had a half hour phone interview with a recruiter. They contacted me soon after for an in-person interview. The in-person interview consisted of 3 one on one meetings. I was told not to expect to hear back for three weeks and four weeks later was called in for another interview. The second round consisted of two one on one meetings.

About a week later I was asked by an HR person for my references. These were supplied right away (they requested 4) and the references were asked to fill out an online survey that was mostly an assessment of skills. About a week after that I received a very generic, automated e-mail from HR saying sorry you did not get the job, but we will keep your resume on file...blah blah.

After going through three rounds, rounding up references and having them fill out the form, I was very insulted by the fact that I did not even receive a phone call or at least a personal email about how they came to their decision. The entire process lasted almost three month from the date of application and the interview process lasted 1.5 months. I would expect at least a more personal rejection with a little more feedback.

The interviews themselves were pleasant. Everyone seemed very friendly, intelligent, interesting and hard working. I would have probably accepted an offer if one was given. Questions were not very difficult. They focused on my background and how I would handle various situations.

I did however notice many questions about stress management. Having read some of the comments on this board maybe its a good thing I am not working there. It is definitely not a place with much work/life balance. However, the job seemed challenging and interesting. Consultant manage people, client and projects. It might have been worth it to have a very stressful job (at least for a couple of years) to gain the experience.

Interview Details – It was not a very long interview, The interviewer seemed very nice and asked me some very basic questions about my background and my interest in the company. Once you can answer confidently why you want to work for PCG you should be more than fine.

Interview Details – Met with direct supervisor, CFO of practice area, and peer. I would advise having in-depth questions for each. I also had a phone screening interview with HR beforehand. When submitting your application online, I would recommend following up with them by phone-- sometimes more than once, as they are busy. Be prepared to have a phone interview immediately.

Negotiation Details – I was not able to negotiate a salary increase. I was able to negotiate a $1500 signing bonus.