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W.W. Grainger
www.grainger.com Lake Forest, IL 5000+ Employees
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W.W. Grainger Interview Questions & Reviews

Getting the Interview  103 Interviews

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Interview Experience  96 Ratings

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103 interview experiences
Updated May 8, 2013
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Interview Outcome:   All No Offer Received Offer

Sales Associate at W.W. Grainger

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Boston, MA Apr 2009 – Reviewed May 8, 2013

Interview Details – My interview was surprisingly easy, I was not asked any difficult questions only about how i handle stressful situation but that is a simple question.

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Account Manager at W.W. Grainger

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Chicago, IL Jun 2010 – Reviewed May 1, 2013

Interview Details – Pass prescreening phone interview (sometimes more than one). Formal interview consists of the usual questions as well as up to 30 from the STAR interviewing technique.

Interview Question – Tell me about a time when you made a mistake and had to make it right with a client or supervisor.   View Answer

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Web Content Associate at W.W. Grainger

No Offer – Interviewed in Lake Forest, IL Apr 2013 – Reviewed Apr 24, 2013

Interview Details – Applied online was contacted via phone by HR a few days later. HR hinted that I might be overqualified by stating the manager might think you will be "bored" with this job. I've been unemployed for over 3 years now, so I assured him that I would not be bored.

2 weeks go by, I have already forgotten all about this job and out of nowhere the HR guy emails me and says that the hiring manager wants to meet me and that the admin will set up for an in person interview. I thought that was odd because one: I assumed I was overqualified and two: how did I go from an HR screening to an in person interview, shouldn't there have been a phone interview in between?

A week later, I have the in person interview: met with web designer, then hiring manager, then senior manager, each 30 min. a piece. The interview went very well with all of them. The interview was more of a conversation than an interrogation which I appreciate. Lots of behavioral questions. The web designer had several technical questions but again they were more about my experience and not those annoying "quiz-like" type of questions.

I left there feeling very good about the interview, I got the impression that I really impressed them. A week later I was told by HR that I interviewed really well but they felt that this position was not right for me. I concluded that the original assumption was correct that I was overqualified for this job. I'm a former .Net developer and this position was more of a content management design position, but I've been unemployed for several years now so to get rejected from this job was a devastating blow.

Interview Questions

  • If you had to choose between Quality vs. Quantity, what would you choose?   Answer Question
  • How would you start designing a project, what would you do first?   Answer Question
  • Name a time where a project you were on didn't go well   Answer Question
  • What are some content management systems you have used?   Answer Question
  • What are some useful features you see with HTML5 and CSS3? Can you write HTML completely by hand?   Answer Question

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User Experience Researcher at W.W. Grainger

No Offer – Interviewed in Apr 2013 – Reviewed Apr 23, 2013

Interview Details – Got a phone interview from UX research manager, asked for a self-intro and also why choose Grainger; Cause I'm a new grad, most questions are related to internship and project experience at school. Also asked why choose eCommerce instead of industrial design.

Interview Question – The findings in diary study, are they helpful in the final redesign?   Answer Question

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Site Relationship Manager at W.W. Grainger

Accepted Offer – Reviewed Apr 23, 2013

Interview Details – Phone Interview with Corporate HR about 1 hour. In person interview with Account Manager and District Manager. About 1-2 hours.

Interview Question – none   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – Company is somewhat willing to negotiate.

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Manager at W.W. Grainger

Accepted Offer – Reviewed Apr 9, 2013

Interview Details – Sweet

Interview Question – When can you start   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – Offered more than I asked for!

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Web Content at W.W. Grainger

Accepted Offer – Reviewed Apr 3, 2013

Interview Details – the position itself was different from the description. It is a operational/execution role based job.

Interview Question – what is the first thing you would do in a project that you know nothing about   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – no negotiation

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Intern at W.W. Grainger

Declined Offer – Interviewed in Lake Forest, IL Oct 2012 – Reviewed Mar 22, 2013

Interview Details – I applied via my college's career fair, and I got an interview request in a few weeks. The Grainger headquarters is quite a sight to behold, especially the lobby. Anyway, I was interview by three panels of three interviewers. Almost all of the questions were behavioral or personality based. I don't remember being asked a single technical question, which actually disappointed me a bit... I was looking for a technical position.

On the whole the interviewers were very nice, and they really did seem to value their interns.

Interview Question – They didn't ask me anything too difficult. The one question I remember feeling uncomfortable with was why I performed so miserably in this one class, and what I would do differently if I could do it again. I feel like there's no winning there. Most of us have that one or two classes that we really didn't do well in for no good reason. No matter what you do, you'll end up looking like you slacked -- unless you have a legitimate reason (e.g. medical)   Answer Question

Reason for Declining – I was offered a better paying internship which was more aligned with what I was pursuing in college.

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Territory Sales Representative at W.W. Grainger

No Offer – Interviewed in Macon, GA Mar 2013 – Reviewed Mar 11, 2013

Interview Details – I received a phone call about 4 days after applying online to schedule a telephone interview the next day. She clarified some details about the position. 20% inside/80% outside with a base salary of $31,000. Expected commission for first year would be approximately $16,000. Company branded car with gas allowance. First three months training at distribution center.

Interview Question – Typical sales related questions like "Tell me about a big success that you have had in your sales career." "Tell me about a failure and what you could have done differently." I am an older worker who was recently laid off during a massive company reorganization. The last question was what year did you receive your bacheolor's degree? Then I was told that all my answers would be forwarded to hiring managers and that if I was chosen to move forward, that I would hear back within two days. Needless to say, I have never heard back. I expect that they are looking for younger sales representatives.   Answer Question

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Territory Sales Representative at W.W. Grainger

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Lake Forest, IL May 2011 – Reviewed Feb 18, 2013

Interview Details – Was referred by employee, submitted application online - got phone call to talk about position, set up phone interview which led to 1:1 interview. If 1:1 interview went smoothly and eventually ended up talking to 4 different people, 2-3 in the room at 1 time. One of them will be your manager.

Interview Question – The end of the interview:
Please sell me this item (random object in the room - pencil etc...)
  View Answer

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