Top 25 Most Difficult Companies To Interview; Consulting Firms Lead The Way

The good news about BCG is they actually post sample tests and situational questions online that you can practice and gauge your aptitude with.

SHELL Rocks

nd anyways I never felt there interviews fr selection werre difficult

is this list applicable globally or US only?

This list is based on ratings in their website and toughness level can be very subjective to the person who provided the feedback. 

This is not the way to do this!

-Matt

Sure, it’s subjective..how could the level of difficulty for an interview be judged any other way? When a site like this gets individual feedback by the thousands, however, that can be translated into realistic data.

If the question itself is subjective, this is probably the best way to do it.

I’ve has a few interviews with Unisys. I walked away each time just hping htat they never called me ever again. Arrogant beyond ALL belief. Having spoken to many who have worked them leaves me certain I would never want to work there no matter how good the money was. But then again GOOD money is something most should never expect from them. And if your sub contracting to them I understand it is even infinitely worse. NO RESPECT AT ALL.

Amazon was a hard interview, even stackover couldn’t answer the question the asked me.

Ironically, most of the interviews …I thought I nailed were for jobs though qualified.. I never got offers for!!    The ones I thought I blew ….were the jobs I got offers for in many cases..  Interviews are never the whole story !

Does a difficult interview ensure the best candidate is chosen?  What is value of making the interview process difficult?

Where else this list works …. take part in dhung guru contest to win prizes

Too many HR departments do the ‘dog and pony show’ because they desperately need to demonstrate their worth within the organization. 

what about Oral Boards for LE fields?

It’s a power-trip for the employer and interviewer…that’s all.

I had a great interview process at Amazon but then turned down the position for one at a small company for less money because the HR person extending the “offer” was a jerk.

One mostly talks to HR only during entry and exit interviews. Next time have some tolerance

I wonder if any of these guys ever applied for a Public Safety position. The interview process is a different situation when they know everything about you and ask you personal questions, such as sexual activity.

What about wall street firms: Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley… ?

how are those questions tough again?

the VAT one was about as straight forward as asking someone to calculate and compare the atomic mass between some chemical compounds.

% of people wanting to try baldness drugs. pretty standard question for every bio-tech start-up to present to their VCs.

marginal cost of a storage. take the cost of cloud storage and do a division?

I don’t get the hype.

LOL that so explains what is wrong with the world if this is what the HR industry thinks is a good idea to do at an interview… asking some of those kinds of questions is basically looking to pick someone on the basis of:

1 – whether of not they can afford to sit on their arse doing countless calculations of things trying to guess which are relevant to the position (considering the millions of possible questions they could ask), and then wasting even more time memorising those things;

2 – whether or not your candidate can go to your website & other resources, and again, rather arbitrarily try to guess which of the BILLIONS of facts might be asked in an interview & then waste more time memorising those;

3 – whether or not your candidates THINK THE SAME as you do, and after all this, actually have memorised the answers to these questions and not something else…

…all of which means, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY you are going to get someone who thinks DIFFERENTLY to the way you do, and which means you are going to lose the benefit of that difference, and just end up with more of the same…

which by my calculations = stagnation (eventually)

The worst interview I ever had was for an unpaid ‘reserve officer’ position with the police. There was the obstacle course, the psych exam and the ‘interrogation’ type interview. The first two were no problem but the interview was intense. There were 6 high ranking officers, who were the interviewers, seated at a table and behind them were a dozen more officers of lesser rank. I was required to stand for the entire interview as they threw situational questions at me as rapidly as possible. They never quite let you finish your answer before they asked the next question – sometimes several of them talking at once. I cracked up a couple of the second row guys but not one of the seated individuals ever so much as cracked a smile. I knew before it was over that a smart ass like me was not going to get the job and I didn’t. I doubt I would have been so cavalier if it were an actual paid position but in my (younger) mind I was doing them a favor by volunteering. I am glad I had the experience but I still question the value of making it so difficult.

lol… sapient is in the list

I think its important for the candidate to feel proud of the post, when they face tough interview and gets selected. They have the strong feeling of being competent, they feel very deserving for the post and tries to give the best to the organization. The organization therefore tries to make the interview/selection process competent.

And yes, as others said it has very little to do with selection. Making best answers to the toughest questions in interview has very little to do with the whole selection procedure.What makes employee satisfied is, Wow i am competent enough. This Wow will later help employer and employee. And it is for this feeling the employer makes interview tough.

i agree with you.. it gives very false impression about organizations

it is very unlikely that lots of people who found interview easy will say so they just don’t bother.. but someone who found it tough or were not offered job will come forward and put on the survey.. The results even though by thousands are therefore very much biased already.

When I nailed the interview I never heard back, but the jobs I didn’t care about and my attitude showed it, they were beating a path to my door to hire me. Go figure…

Dear sir/matem,
Any work intersted,work is treuly.

there’s a difference between a difficult interview and a dumb interview…. google…

Difficult, case style questions and probing behavioral questions are precisely designed to ensure the best candidate is chosen. They allow for clear stratification of candidates. Unless you’re trying to hire the nearest warm body for a trivial role, what is the value of setting a low bar with easy questions that require little preparation or experience?

The intention is not that you’d know the answer to a case style question prior to the interview. That’s impossible and worthless task. The value of the question to evaluate how the candidate proposes to find the answer. No one expects you to know the value-added tax of certain items or the marginal cost of a gigabyte of email. But, if that type of analysis is relevant to the job, then they need to see that you have the mental horsepower to think through a way to find the solution.

Amazon interview i had over a year ago was done by a moron, who delayed and cancelled the discussion after being on the bridge waiting for few minutes. Finally when we connected over the call, the first half of my time i heard his apologies for not making it and then few basic questions. Post which i thought it went well. Contrary to my expectations for next round of meeting, i was told, i didnt had necessary experience…. go figure!!!

I interviewed at Google and was asked a vague question that had no relation to the position I was applying for. When I requested additional information to help answer the question, it was refused. Then I made assumptions, explained my logic and gave an answer. The interviewer personally insulted me! A friend of mine who interviewed for the same position was treated in the same way. I hoped I would never get a call back and thankfully I didn’t. Although I have years of relevant experience and would be a good fit, I wouldn’t want to work with people like that. I think these needlessly “difficult” interviews turn away a lot of good talent.

The benefit of a challenging interview process is to weed out candidates that might be bad hires, mostly not being motivated or willing to engage in the process in a positive way. This type of screen can easily be misused and will almost always reject some people that would be perfectly good hires. Difficult interviews don’t ensure choosing the best candidate.

actually (i had a google interview) it was stupidly easy. but also stupid.
Sandia Labs interview was hard. Two days, 19 45min one on ones, a presentation…
google, microsoft, haha pathetic.

A famous software company once called me about some career opportunities, mentioning they were headhunting good people and picked me (humm…). The lady at the other side of the line were saying that it would be about 8 interviews, including a psychological assessment, security-clearance related questions, and all that jazz (and she mentioned all that with a lot of excitement). I asked her to have a look at the bottom of my CV, where it mentioned that I was a Special Constable (i.e: reserve officer) for London’s Metropolitan Police. Then I told her: “Not even Scotland Yard gave me 1/5 of the stress an grievance you are selling to me during my interviewing in hiring process. Plus, I have better chances of a prominent and rewarding career (and with a higher salary) working for one of your certified partners. But thank you very much for having considered me.”

As Daniel said below, it is a power trip for the company. Most of them are full of s* though.

Interviews are conducting to select right candidate for the specified post. So during the process, the interviewer will ask several questions and most of them are relevant. But some time the vacancy is for few posts and the candidates came for interview are unlimited, the interviewer make the questions difficult and irrelevant to the post applied. The continued questions depend on the candidates answer to previous questions, attitude, method of answering, body language, personality and approach. When a candidate attend interview, answer only to the question and the answer should be correct and appropriate. Be calm and tension free while attending the interview. If you do not know the correct answer. simply say I do not know and make sure not to give vague or wrong answer as well as not to argue to make the candidate’s stand and answers are correct. Approach the interview positively. While attending interview not to enter into any arguments.

hi

it’s goldan opurchunity to all those who r most eligiabal n confidant tm self to geting hi pay job .i think ts is a new trend of walk in interview campas .

Uh, no. If the person representing the company has a poor attitude, it is indicative of the environment you are about to work in.

On what empirical evidence do you base this on, Ananta?

the HR department doesn’t desperately need to demonstrate their worth, they are clearly very important in organizations. Interviews are to select the best fit for the job role.

The silliest interview I ever had was for a customer service position at a megabank. The first person read off a list of more or less ‘standard’ questions. The second person read exactly the same list of questions – so did the third and the fourth! Not one of them deviated to ask any other question. I was getting really good at the answers by the time I met the third interviewer. I got the job, but by that time I wasn’t sure I wanted to work for such a cookie-cutter company that discouraged creative thinking of any kind.

Google discriminates in their hiring process! I couldn’t even get a temporary position in needs of a Spanish speaker because my GPA was not 3.3, actually my GPA is 3.0, but an important factor: I am a gay Hispanic guy who immigrated at age 31 to California and completed my Bachelor degree at 40 while working at the same time 3 years ago, so I wonder, Was that race or age discrimination Google? Maybe other?

At this point in time interviewing processes are ridiculous…. They expect you to know everything. I would not put up with being insulted, I would just end the interview and leave if it happened.

They are important if they can filter out unqualified applicants and lure the best talent. Some organizations (Google sounds like one of them along with a rising number of others) that turn away the talented employees interested in working for otherwise good companies. HR has an important role, but they can damage a companies talent pool as much as help it and are rarely held accountable for who they do or do not bring in to a company.

i m totally fresher i don’t knw how to face interview so plz help me and give me some tips hw to face interviews ;;;;;;;;;;; i want job in marketing beczo i m doing mba in marketing so plz give me some tips hw to face interview

i am fresher plz tell me how to face interview i want job in accounts i m doing m.b.a finance plz tell me how to face interview

Frodo, my experience was exactly the same. Pointless question and unrelated to the job description I had. The interviewer (a techy guy without any HR experience on interview) sounded arrogant and useless. At the end, I was so disgusted with the treatment that I never applied for similar jobs at Google. Besides, I totally lost my appreciation for the company. It’s a shame.

the good ol’ economic theory “demand and supply” should explain it.

That is the point.
Most people don’t use plain commonsense in their jobs…

Really? wow.

actually (i had a google interview) it was stupidly easy. but also stupid.I think its important for the candidate to feel proud of the post, when
they face tough interview and gets selected. They have the strong
feeling of being competent, they feel very deserving for the post and
tries to give the best to the organization. The organization therefore
tries to make the interview/selection process competent.

By the time I got done interviewing at C2C
Resources I felt I had been through a murder interrogation, a hostage negotiation, and a therapy session all rolled into one. My interviewers knew more about me than my mom, and when it was over and I was offered the job I literally shed tears of relief.

sometimes good people are lost due to their initial nervousness, and the curt atmosphere created by the interviewers….

I went for an interview at McKinsey in their Johannesburg office. I was interviewed by 3 different people, the last two ladies were pleasant and I could really tell that they were pleased. The first lady who interviewed me was a real piece of work, i think she was very intimated by me somehow. During the interview, she bragged about that she has only worked for JSE listed companies, she had all executive experience blah bla, then she told me to my face that McKinsey&Company would chew me and spit me out. It was there and then I lost respect for the company, and all its “policies and values” it stands for. I knew it that I did not get the job. The recruitment agency called me later on to ask how the interview went, I was honest. In the end, I told her that If I was called for a third round of interviews, I would decline in a heartbeat because I can never work for or with a person like that.

WOW! Pick up to you for standing your ground like that! LOVELY and so powerful!

I would say personal experience. However, it is true that most people do not say a thing when they feel good about something but they complain quite some when their every whim is not satisfied… I personally am starting to learn to give praise where I was satisfied and thus promote good practices…

Most times yes and some times no

Employers seem to forget that they need good employees every bit as much as people need a job.
After one interview, I told the HR rep that now I would interview HER to see if the company was qualified to have ME as an employee.
Of course, she was shocked to have the tables turned on her.
But without employees, a company cannot exist.
And I refuse to kiss a persons hind quarters to get or keep a job.
BY the way, I still got the job.

Do you smoke crack?

I am a employer I would never hire you because you seem like a chicken. When you join a company you should always put your best foot forward and change/mold everyone in the building to your liking. Also; you can have sex with everyone in order to get what you want like Anne Coulture

Any selection instrument should (according to the USSC) be manifestly related to job performance. However, very few organizations hire HR professionals who are capable of thoroughly and appropriately validating selection processes. Instead, most rely on unqualified interviewers who might be incumbents with job-related knowledge, but who think they should just ask whatever comes to mind–frequently including questions that result in discrimination. Unfortunately, many companies think that the more opaque and eccentric their selection processes, the smarter and more inventive they must be. It’s more often a sign of reckless incompetence.

On the other side, too few applicants are aware of their rights and protections, so many valid Title 7 and OFCCP cases are never filed… and those companies never learn their well deserved lessons.

They didn’t include recruiting firms that only have Indian persons interviewing you. They need to learn better English so a person can understand the questions they’re asking. I just had a phone interview yesterday and did poorly as I couldn’t understand most of the hiring manager’s questions. I expressed my fustration to the recruiter.

I don’t think it’s really an issue of tolerance, Shreeraj. You’re talking about making a significant decision based on limited information. You shouldn’t accept the job assuming that the signals you’ve received are somehow inaccurate. If Amazon didn’t introduce Aaron to other people in the company in order to give him a broader basis on which to form his opinion, that’s also a signal.

On the other hand, if Aaron had met 6 people at Amazon and only the HR person had been a jerk, then perhaps it’s not really a signal about the company (though it might still indicate that Amazon isn’t terribly concerned with HR quality control).

Not all difficult interviews are difficult for the same reasons. Some are difficult because the questions are irrelevant or the interviewer is obtuse or ill prepared.

This is why I much rather work for a company where experience and actually knowing how to do a job counts. These are the things that should be analyzing in an interview.

Yes this is how Google is losing talent to other companies. I dont care what benefits they offer or what they pay… ..if you are disrespected on daily basis its really worth it. The folks at Google are a bunch of arrogants who think they know it all. I WOULD NEVER WORK FOR “GOOGLE” regardless what they have to offer. Trust you wouldn’t too if you know how they use and abuse their employs.

HR people just need to justify their existence so they keep wasting candidates time..

I will never work for you because you use poor grammar. Also, judging from your handle it seems that you are on a power trip.

If you are an Engineering Manager needing to hire an Engineer, HR shouldn’t be held responsible for who you do/do not bring into an organization. The buck stops with you. You’re responsible – HR provides you with the tools and expertise to do YOUR job.

You’re kidding, right? Most HR departments are merely gate keepers and political officers with no idea what so ever of your particular strengths or even the positions actual requirements. To think that your fate is held in the hands of someone so clueless, and quite frankly couldn’t care one whit about you, is in itself a tragedy. There was a time when the actual managers and those closest to the “need” did the hiring and HR, or as it was once called the ‘personnel dept.’, simply cut the checks. Now with the endless cattle calls you have little dictators who go through their stack of applicants and pick the top most on the pile only because they’re “too busy” to go a little further. Here is the one question that I despise more than anything…. “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Excuse me?! Am I psychic? With the way things have been lately that’s purely wishful thinking and, like another commenter, I’ve turned the question around and asked them where do they see themselves in five years. Still asking the same question?

Most HR individuals are there for a purpose, to weed out the unqualified, pass through the qualified to the real interview. I dont believe any company should rely on the HR interviews as the sole basis for hiring.

One experience, for example, I interviewed with a pleasant gal who was with the company 6 mo. Yep, places like Linked-In allows you to look up the interviewer to know their credentials too. It became very apparent she was bothered by my 25 years experiences, lawyer, engineer and IT VP in Ops.

The rambling went on and on, well, I just sat there waiting for her to finish. The questions were scripted and hmm…how should I say, elementary at best.

Eventually I made it to the interview with the company’s president. Again, hmmm….the questions were scripted, I listened to him boast of how great his experience was, he had previously been at a company overseeing ten thousand employees, etc., etc., etc.

How much of a specialist he was as Captain of this company, yet, from discussions of their sales, financials, their need for venture capital partners, support and delivery models, they were almost broke.

Needless to say, I got the offer, 30k less than what was expected.
So to the readers of this note, they really were’nt interviewing me.
I was there to evaluate them…

I declined the offer, wished them the very best in their future endeavors..

Age discrimination is more likely the cause but there is no definitive way of knowing in your case. I knew a man who worked for an employment agency and he told me himself that the dirty little secret is that once you cross the 45 threshold that many firms look at you as a liability. For one thing you’re old enough to know how the corporate “mind games” are played and thus not sufficiently ignorant and malleable.

Correct HR dept is a total waste. In India it is all the more worse. Good for nothing. They do something stupid to show their worth.

I worked for Google for about a year (as a SWE), and was trained in interviewing technical candidates, and I can tell you that guy was NOT doing his job correctly. One of the rules is that the candidate should walk away feeling good about Google and the interview process. After all, a huge percentage of candidates don’t make it passed the first round of interviews, and Google doesn’t need a bunch of people bad-mouthing the company. So you can see where the guy who insulted you was way out of line.

That being said, I found Google to be full of arrogant, spoiled brats pretending to be engineers, but actually being hackers. A lot of them are pretty smart, but most of them can’t be trusted. And the internal politics are toxic.

Consider yourself lucky not to be hired by Google, wishing you had a lower employee number (seniority by hire date rules there). I once got into an e-mail debate with some clown who had no idea how Mutexes work. I told him very publicly (and politely) that he was wrong, and I was later warned by several old-timers that the clown had a two- or three-digit employee ID, and therefore he must be right. Meritocracy, ha!

In recent years, I’ve tried to have the mindset of a cheerleader as I’ve asked questions. Like: here’s a problem, I think you can do it, I want to observe your thought process. My thought is: the interviewee already feels they’re* getting quizzed, they may have had anxiety-filled nightmares in the past 24 hours, etc., and I hope that when my think real loud at them “you can do it, i know you can,” it makes at least my hour with them a little better.

[* Another thread mentions grammar; I'm following Bolles's use of 3rd person plural pronoun in order to be more inclusive. This is becoming common usage and is less awkward than writing "she or he" or "s/he" or repeating the noun/phrase over and over again in the sentence.]

I am amazed by the number of interview positive experience percentages that are below 60%. Companies are spending millions on branding and then flushing those dollars by creating antisponsors during interviews. What would be an interesting stat would be to see the breakout comparison of HR interviewers positive/negative percentages and non-HR interviewer positive/negative percentages. HR gets blamed frequently for negative ratings but I wonder how many hiring managers tip the initial positive impressions created by recruiters/sourcers/HR over into the red zone by not treating the person across the table as if they mattered.

A lot of the comments in this threat demonstrates exactly the value of a tough interview process. Forget how fantastic you think your skills are – in the end, a good employee is someone with a good attitude, even under stress. It seems that a lot of people here felt that it was insulting to them to go through extended interviews and a personal affront to be asked questions not directly related to their skill set. I consider this the interview process doing its job perfectly by sorting those people out.

wow man! proud of u.. how did you even find this thread?

The interviewer at Amazon was an asshole. He asked me to describe my previous job experience and then said “that’s all?” in the middle of my description and that it had nothing to do with the job I applied for. HE then told me I was interested in the wrong job and it had nothing to do with customers when I mentioned the word customer (when the job title was Project Manager of Customer Returns)? When I asked him about the daily duties and training he said “There is none of that at Amazon. We do not train and you do different things everyday.” Doesn’t sound like a company I’d like to work for.

When interviewing for Google over the phone, the recruiter accused me of looking up answers to technical questions on the computer (which of course I wasn’t) and immediately ended the conversation.

Most companies use technology and processes that do nothing to try and match the person to the role or the company. Most job descriptions were thrown together without really understanding the core competencies of the job and just filled out the page with superfluous add-ons. So this puts the technology being used to screen out people instead of screening in based on a lot of fiction. Couple that without really understanding the true culture of the company and the real behavior of the managers people are going to work for it’s no wonder that companies still complain about always losing the best talent or never optimizing results.

Isn’t this how you’re supposed to interview? I almost always assume half of the time is set aside for me to learn everything I can about the company and the person interviewing me. That is how I weed out crappy bosses and companies.

What it is, that the HR/managers who gets to hire the best candidate has forgotten where they have come from. They forget that someone went out on a limb and hire them without no real experience and that they received a break which probably some didn’t even deserve. Those of us who are looking for employment needs someone to give us a break and I agree with the majority of the post here that the people in charge of hiring the best candidate for the job are on some kind of power trip.

HR is the biggest joke in the history of industry. Confused one screwed by crazy one, as in an old saying. I, hereby, claim that the decade of the so called economic slumps is directly caused by HR movement. I say HR movement because it is whole infrastructure behind it, which had costed industry trillions and trillions of dollars in the last 15 years. This infrastructure is so deep rooted that there is NO WAY western civilization will ever escape it. Nobel prize winner in economy calls it “systemic” causes of the slumps, but I, having worked for 25 different companies, call it HISTORY OF STUPIDITY OF ENORMOUS PROPORTIONS, LED BY HR MOVEMENT.

This is VERY useful to know! BTW When I login into Gmail usually for the 15 mins I just curse, curse, curse, and curse, the LOSERS who allowed this to be “engineered” (what a joke). I mean compared to this Microsoft looks like champions?! WTF?! And to allow to be tested by such morons???? NO WAY. I WOULD RATHER DIE

Why r the interviewer make a interview so complicated and what they get from this……?

I would say very honest that all the companies want a best or smart candidates for their reputed organizations friends…that’s why hired/happened all this…………!

what an arrogance! Do you believe to be the only right candidate in the world? Countries like India or China have hundreds thousands of well educated university graduates, crying for a job.

i need a job in Google.Do you help me

I’ve seen this in few other companies as well. Amdocs for example, lesser digits in ur emp ID, more value given to you.

Had a horrible interview experience at amazon.

I would definitely add the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates to that list, either at or near the top. It’s more than just being asked to give 10 uses for a pencil. For the uninitiated, you are required to view a number of vignettes on the BW website in which Stepford-like employees describe their experiences and the challenges of working at the firm. Next, you have to read the founder Ray Dalio’s 120+ page manifesto on his view of life and “what is true”. Then you have a phone interview with a couple of middle managers, who ask you off-the-wall questions in an attempt to see how agile you are and if they can rattle you – (BTW, all of the telephone interviews are audio taped and the in-person interviews are video taped). These can and will be used against you if you are singled out on an issue, should you be hired. If you are asked to come in for a personal interview, you might find yourself in a conference room with up to several interviewers and other candidates. Candidates are asked to critique each other and offer reasons why they feel that they would make a superior employee. This firm has a rep for being creepy and cult-like. If you don’t toe the party line and fit in with the culture, you are dead meat. The compensation levels are among the industry’s highest, but it is a wierd environment. Nuff said.

I agree!

i’ve been to india. they’re well educated only in the sense that they know more. trust me, you wouldn’t want to hire them after you’ve seen their work habits.

I had a good laugh reading your comment…first you talk about how google doesn’t want people bad-mouthing them, then you go on to slam them. Good one, bud!

I think ever a good company like Google has bad people who is like a fly into a good drink When this bad people are recruiter I think the bad impression about that company is wider (in this high socialized world) than if he/she were a technical developing products (a bad product won’t pass the QA, but a bad interviewer????)

Its so cool to see so many people who obviously never actually interviewed or worked for google. Nice stories bitches.

My Dear Friend, Isn’t knowing more a first step in working for a good company ? Its your intellect that teaches you to work ethically & professionally. If working extra hours to meet deadlines, going that extra mile to exceed customer expectations, thinking for employer first is counted in bad habits then for sure, hundred of thousands working in India are “Bad Workers”.
Before you get out of your college in SD, think for a while what you were taught in your school “Work is worship”. People in India do remember this verse but seems you …

I have worked with many many foreign nationals, they are excellent workers.

i want to do job in airlienes .

I think I’m gonna reply cause I see how uninformed you are. “working extra hours”? Have you been to any IT company recently? Indians are the first to jump on free food but the last to pick up a task. My dad works at Yahoo and he tells me how ridiculous the Indians are. I’m Indian by race but the way the majority of Indians behave makes me ashamed to be one. I’m glad you’ve worked with foreign nationals. I’ve seen Africans, South-East Asians, and South Americans to be hard workers, but to call Indians hard workers is just uninformed. I’ve stayed there for six years and all I heard when I needed help was “go to this guy, he’ll help you” or “can’t you see i’m busy?” when he was drinking tea and was surfing Reddit. I was schooled in India for six years and I remember the line “work is worship” but the line holds little meaning when no one follows it. I know the dignity of labor. I work hard for the things I want. But the indians I know living in America and in India do not.

I hope I don’t come off as rude. But to discuss this issue again after doing so for so many times, is kinda tiresome. Input is greatly appreciated. I’m pretty sure you have differing views and I’d like to understand where you’re coming from.

I dont like the way you generalize people . Everyone is individual and you will find all sorts of people from a particular nationality. So, if you are different then do what you want, don’t fret about other people. And, you are jut being condescending here.

@suryamp:disqus

Is it work habits that matter or is it work ??
btw where are you from

surya prakash u r a chuuuuuuuuuu

@Surya Prakash Manchikanti: You are obviously entitled to your opinion. My opinion about your comment is that you do come off a bit rude and not completely informed. My experience has been that any culture and company, you will find a mixed bag.

United Health Care should be at the top of the negative list.

Sorry to say this Mr. Surya Prakash Manchikanti… but you in general are commenting on the whole of the Indian community. This is really a cheap thing to do. The bay area is the IT hub because of the INDIANS working here. You have been really insensitive in recognizing what the Indians are doing for this industry and this country. Every person cannot be the same in such a big country… not even in America every person is humble and helpful, there are people who are quite rude and insensitive…:) The same is the case with India, everyone cannot behave in a similar manner. Whatever conceptions you have for a country or the people you even met… don’t you ever make that as a general statement for every person belonging to that community. INDIANS are pretty good educated and knowledgeable and companies here spend millions of dollars on hiring those intelligent people. And just for your kind information, INDIANS know how to respect their country and the people of other countries as well. Don’t even call yourself to be an Indian race because you don’t deserve to be one of them.

Sorry bud. How well a person bullshit his way through the interview is not an indicative on how well his performs OR how well he coexist with his colleagues. A good bullshitter will always be a good bullshitter. He will say anything and everything.

Yeah. Indians DEFINITELY are responsible for making silicon valley the IT hub of the world. ALL/MAJORITY of the CEO’s of the startups are Indians. Don’t kid yourself. I never said I wanted to be an Indian. I’d be happy if one day I could change my race. Indians know how to respect their country? Pff yeah right. I’ve been in India for six years. I know what I’m talking about. I’ve been in the bay area for more than twelve years and I definitely know what I’m talking about.

I find your question answers itself. If your work habits are bad, your work is bad. You can read my comment that explains that the work they produce is lower in quality compared to others.

I don’t want to start a flame war and I agree my comment can be interpreted as condescending and that is a flaw in myself. I’ve been working on that but that’s not what I’m trying to present myself as. I’m not fretting and I’m constantly striving to be better.

And another thing: what you say here doesn’t change facts. If you think Indians did a lot for the country, you stick to that belief. It’s not my duty to change that and I’m stubborn and will not change my own. I’m practicing my freedom of speech. If you don’t like what I type, don’t read it.

I’m just pointing out the bad qualities. Honestly I like that the majority of Indians are helpful if they know what they’re talking about and I like that they’re close with each other. They have other qualities that are good but I didn’t find it relevant to list them out. I did find a “mixed bag”. I was just talking about the bad stuff. If you still think I come off as not completely informed, I’m sorry and I’d like to change but the proof I’ve seen has solidified my opinion and a lot of contradicting evidence would be necessary to change it. I’d like to end this conversation. It isn’t healthy for both of us to carry on and while you might not have anything to do and may find time to reply, I certainly cannot.

Um, learn English and then get back to me.

I feel good knowing I’ve been interviewed and hired by two of the companies on this list. I didn’t find the interviews especially difficult.

I will help you understand my question again

Does a good work habit guarantee good result, or is it like a catalyst that MAY help

I feel being organized, bookish, principled helps, but doesnt guarantee a result.

what is that matters in the real world is the end result ( of course there can be people who get attached to their way of doing things and blame the rest is crap)

To simplify can you list the some 20 startups that failed miserably ( without googling or unless otherwise you are a post-project analyst of understanding why/what projects fail which is not a bad thing at all )

.. I think you are really not worried of them at all,unless you are one of them( No result not process )

The bottom line is “Dont discriminate people by your feelings”

I interviewed with Google too and it was one of the best interviews I had. I didn’t get the job, but the guy was very down to earth and respected my answers. Additionally, the interview was very on topic (Software Engineer). Half were direct questions about data structures and the other half was writing/analyzing code. Your comment certainly does not go for all, since I have some friends who also had great experiences even though they didn’t get the job.

Well yes, but that is entirely besides the point. Sure, the interview process is an imperfect art and interviewing skills are very different from the actual skills required to perform in your job. But an experienced interviewer should see through BS and I am also a firm believer in cases during the interview process to test for real problem solving skills and performance under stress. But you seem to automatically equate someone with a good attitude with someone who BSs… So, according to that logic you either have a bad attitude at the interview or you are BSing? I disagree with that entirely.

It is my personal experience with the people I have hired and worked with that attitude counts for 95% of a person’s success and skills 5%. Someone with a bad attitude during an interview process will always have a bad attitude. And someone who thinks the interview process is beneath him/her is going to think the same about a lot of the work that is required of that person. If you cannot stand to sit through 7-8 interviews in a row, how do you deal with a day full of meetings?

We can agree that we do not want to hire someone who is BSing you during the interview. And I still do not want to hire someone with a bad attitude about it either. So let’s just hire people who are honest and positive during the process. I do not see how one excludes the other.

I will help you understand my question again

Does a good work habit guarantee good result, or is it like a catalyst that MAY help

I feel being organized, bookish, principled helps, but doesnt guarantee a result.

what is that matters in the real world is the end result ( of course
there can be people who get attached to their way of doing things and
blame the rest is crap)

To simplify can you list the some 20 startups that failed miserably (
without googling or unless otherwise you are a post-project analyst
of understanding why/what projects fail which is not a bad thing at all
)

.. I think you are really not worried of them at all,unless you are one of them( No result , and its not process/way of achieving )

The bottom line is “Dont discriminate people by your feelings”

Guess I understood your question. “good work habit guarantee good result” is false. but what I said “bad work habits = bad work” is true. the rest of your comment was TL;DR. Later.

cool was that the work habit you preach
you actually need more time to understand things
All the best

I have a friend at Google who was asked none of this. HIs boss decided he wanted to bring him across from another company it it was so. I think he might have had to fill out his name and address on a sheet of paper and that was that. It’s who you know – always was, always has been!

It doesnt matter where you are from, but it matters if you crib about people/culture

Haha that was very good. You thought you had me there huh? Well I’m sorry to burst your bubble but this isn’t work. I’m busy with work and this isn’t a priority right now. If this was, I’d actually take time to reply and I’d actually read your comment. All the best to you too sir. I guess you need to learn how to not nitpick on people’s faults when they’re minuscule.

I would rather suggest that you get back to work, and better promote things only after you practise

btw I am @ full leisure now

I am surprised Accenture did not make the list.

i agree

really what they want is just that the they candidate they select should possess enormous caliber plus valor not only to tackle difficulties but using the discretion very effectively during some troubling situations at their workplace.

Do you notice what is interesting about the responses in this thread? All of them are from people with Indian names, All of them are attacking someone they perceive as flaming them as a whole, in the guise of defending their positions. In reality, if you view this for what it is, it’s one person’s experience.

I’ll add another. Surya Prakash did cite some good examples with which I agree. In my years in working with Indian workers — again, in general, there are notable exceptions — the cultural attitude is (a) evasive toward answering questions or giving a “no” answer, (b) not very accountable for mistakes or willing to admit that they were incorrect or simply “don’t know”, which is perceived in the US as being less-than-honest, and (c) rather aloof in many respects. I could cite chapter and verse of each of these but it would add much content to an already very long response and thread.

I’ve had experiences in working with and even interviewing persons of Indian extraction. Some have been good, many have provided evasive or unaccountable answers. It also appears to take 3-4 people to accomplish the same output as one on-shore US resource, and often tangents into lengthy discourse involving multiple resources to discuss something to death because (a) each person has bits of the knowledge required, and (b) as a culture, everyone wants to speak and be heard, even if they all say the same thing. They tend to not demonstrate out-of-the-box thought very well, and deep-probing questions that veer from a defined process will prove confusing (i.e. you can direct someone to put their head in an over and they’ll do it, but ask them why they’re doing so and you’ll get confused stares).

I won’t say they aren’t knowledgable. Some are. But there is a huge industry issue with credential fraud that requires lots of investigation, and skills for which many have listed proficiency result in a different story in practice. I’ve caught several supposed PMP’s who don’t even hold the credential; who knows how many other credentials are frauds.

Bottom line: Verify. Test. Probe. And expect that you’ll hire a village and spend mucho money on calls to-from India because they’re all discussing work issues and gathering knowledge to perform work for which they may list themselves as proficient. Kudos to Surya for his courage to say that, as well as continuing to take the flak.

Good employees are destined to work their tails off and be poor. I am striving to get off that train! Good luck interviewing at hard places people

@Surya Prakash, Its funny, every time u are condescending in your comments and the very next comment you start by saying I am not being ‘
condescending’. Looks like you are confused in what and how you want to present yourself. and for basics, you need to know the meaning of majority. I dont know how many Indians , have you interacted with, but I am sure cant be majority as Indians are the second largest population. Freedom of rights is one thing, respect for other culture and races is even more imp. Just because you have an Indian name, does not give you a right to judge a country, speak with some responsibility, if you understand that what I mean.

Just another list of reasons to NOT have an interest in working for large corporations.

Hear about the Google contractor fired/layed off after one year of removing the most despicable things from the internet? Things so nasty he is now in counseling? He probably went through one of the interview processes, and for what?

Too much HR input and too much free time due to management bonuses being based on the number of direct reports lead to this type of thing. If you want to fit into this crowd go for it, but after a few years you will either be a bad person that can continue or looking for the exit signs.

I love this. That sounds awesome.

I agree with you Sam. I think people has the tendency to take their own experiences in life and events that happened to other people they know and try to pass them off as a bases for a factual discussion.

As an African American male who have an Indian as a best friend and had an Indian as a terrible landlord; I will have to say it is wrong to generalize a group of people on the bases of you own experiences.

Surya, your experiences are not factual they are only a base for you to argue your opinion. Also, this is not to say that you are a bad person because I see this type of belief that people stand behind at my current job but it is bad to say that I am stubborn people so I am not going to change my views on what i believe. It is that type of thinking that renders you all of these negative responses to your arguments. Try being open minded about beliefs for a change instead of taking on the stubborn role.

In five years… “I hope to be celebrating the 5 year anniversary of you asking me that question.”

An interesting insight… The fact that HR is not responsible for NOT hiring qualified/talented candidates demonstrates the basic flaw that there is no oversight of their interviewing/hiring function. If there was, that would mean there was a manager or someone who knew the process keeping an eye on them.

Additionally, the incredible rise and success of the external headhunter/talent firms, as well as the minor trend to bring that function in house clearly demonstrates how ineffective HR is in hiring appropriate candidates.

I am amazed each day at how man makes life so much more difficult each day – so sad. These intense interviewing styles are just silly in my mind, I’m sorry. We all are still just flesh & blood and the world continues on this nutty path. Years ago a guy could get a decent job and live a decent life. No more. Now it is all flash and show, with very little effort. And when these wonderful folk obtain these jobs they leave their homes each morning with I-pod plugged into the ears and the cell phone firmly planted in the hand. Sad. Now, having given my opinion, all is not lost. I, too, was faced with some of these silly interviewing styles years ago. I would not be interested in working for such silly companies, sorry. It’s just me. I’m still just a nice normal guy ( who now owns his own retail business and would never think to interview people in these fashions – silly!)

Okay I’d like to start off by saying it’s my opinion. It’s up to the Indians you meet to decide whether you’re gonna have the same experience. I’ve been open minded on many aspects. I proudly support gay rights, I proudly support marijuana legalization etc. Telling me I’m not open minded might be okay in your book but I know I’m not. Understand that I’m not gonna shun an Indian in the workspace as soon as I talk to him/her. If you still think my experiences aren’t factual and if you think I’m lying, please don’t bother to reply. If you know I’m lying, why are you responding?

I’d like to end this conversation. It isn’t healthy for both of us to carry on and while you might not have anything to do and may find time to reply, I certainly cannot.

damn my writing skills will always be second to your’s. Thanks for writing that out. I appreciate it a lot.

@surya… you just have to improve your english then, if you saying that you work and we indians does not work then thing over again?are you working all 40hrs a week without talking to any of your personal friends or wife or anyone? then your company is not paying you for that, we cant even take you in our race and you dont even deserve, do you really think that all your fore fathers are born in us only, then why have your name is suraj and prakash and all….i really think before commenting upon any community or race you should think, and as far as your thinking and mentality is concerned we all know that, so better dont justify it.

Guys relax! Surya is just expressing his first amendment rights of free speech. He has a right to his opinion.

@suryamp:disqus ,
Mr Manch….ti, Do you consider yourself lazy or an exceptional person who is Indian by race but not lazy? If you could be Indian but not lazy, then obviously there could be many many more Indians who are not lazy as well.

” I’d be happy if one day I could change my race. ”
I am concerned an average American would just view you as an “ABCD”

This goes on my FB status.

Looks like you are confused in what and how you want to present
yourself. and for basics, you need to know the meaning of majority. I
dont know how many Indians , have you interacted with, but I am sure
cant be majority as Indians are the second largest population. Freedom
of rights is one thing,

But IT is EXACTLY the point! Hence a good bullshitter term! Honesty in my experience does NOT get you the job – or maybe it’s the age thing?

Well if sitting in a room wired up for a lie detector test…… 20 page background check to ALL your neighbors and numerous other associates ,,,,,,,,, background check through the CBI ……… sitting in front of a panel of 5 law enforcement officials doesn’t get in the top of the list …………… Now that is a rugged hiring process,

Wow. Your username is enough for me to know that your comment is nothing but a troll. Good luck trying to get a reply.

Is race determined only by skin? The people who have flamed me identify themselves as Indian. I do not. I was brought up in Sunnyvale. Ethinicity wise I am Indian. But I do not possess Indian values (I’m not saying they’re bad or good). If I was viewed as “ABCD”, I don’t care. What matters is who I consider myself to be and if I strive to be a better person. And what average americans think is none of my business. I care what other people, who I care about, think of me (this sentence might not be grammatically correct so I hope you understand what I’m trying to say).

its still better than the idiot bunch of losers called US ppl, who somehow thinks they are the centre of the world.

Damn. That hurts, especially cause it came from “nobody”.

then y they create computer software book no clue man.

Well Duckfield, I quite don’t get why anyone should “forget how fantastic they think their skills are” because a recruiter (who quite often is far less educated and experienced than the candidate) thinks he/she can be abusive and treat candidates as doormats to reboost his/her ego. I am fully aware that nobody in the HR/recruitment business likes to hear that, but skilled professionals are also “sorting out” good companies from the disrespectful ones. ALL good candidates have a precise idea of their value and will leave any disrespectful interviewer on the spot because they know full well that they deserve better. So basically this kind of interview is totally counterproductive since the ones who accept to be treated like rugs are the lousy (hence bullshiters, Henry is right) and desperate ones. I am very good at what I am doing, I don’t lose control ever but one thing is sure: I don’t allow anybody to abuse me or even just disrespect me either. Rude people usually get it right away.

very helpful.

Let’s go back to reality here: WHY on earth, is people accepting that? To find themselves in a living hell every day for 9-10 hours, 5 days a week and 50 weeks a year? Are these few $ more (that will never cover the cost of a divorce lawyer retainer plus the therapy sessions required to cope with this life ) worth losing mind, life and family? If people keep on applying for these companies, and accept to be treated like garbage no wonder why these companies keep on behaving like that! Making sure to know a minimum about the company you want to work for is the minimum, but no one can record or video tape you without asking your permission first, above all if they intend to keep these tapes for any purpose. Singling out someone in a company is against the law by the way, and candidates are free to put an end to an interview at any time! Why would anybody who respects themselves accept to be trashed by a peer who does not know ONE thing about them? This is utterly ridiculous.

Extended interviews are not the problem, I guess you misunderstood what is being said here.(Besides, being harsh is the easiest, but not the only way to put someone under stress)The problem is the content of the interviews which is directly linked to the blatant behavioral issues of 95% of recruiters these days & the power trip they are on! Companies take care of their image but weirdly do not worry about the manners & values displayed by the recruiting companies they pick (this being potentially extremely damageable to their reputation as well). An increasing vast majority of recruiters are not even polite. I’m not talking about being able to go to Buckingham palace, I am talking about not respecting BASIC politeness rules & BASIC business etiquette such as: not honoring their appointments or commitments & worse, not even bothering to leave a message to cancel (how many candidates have heard “I’ll call you Tues. at 10″, have made time, have wasted 1 hour in their schedule & never heard about the recruiter ever again?) or
not answering emails & not returning calls! I am talking about being harsh interviewing candidates & then, giving them the silence treatment instead of a civil & prompt negative answer afterwards (why a candidate who has put up with the stress of an interview, wouldn’t deserve some decency from a recruiter?). Some even push the indecency to an art, whining on HR forums that giving a phone call to say “no” is oh-so tough on the poor them (aren’t they paid for doing that?); or that already employed prospects are not answering their emails (Could it be in remembrance of how poorly these prospects have been treated by recruiters when they were seeking employment?). Simple question:
- How a person who obviously don’t have the very basic interpersonal skills, would be able to accurately evaluate whether anyone else has a good attitude or not?

How ironic that on your other post you admit how ineffective HR is. Oh well. But, still, that’s a cold blooded thing to say and only goes to prove what I’d said earlier.

i can remember an interview with a major injvestment firm, they had me in various seesions for 7 hours straight with no water or bathroom breaks. I finally gave up laughing when i was asked this question,” If you were a tree, what kind would you be?” to which i laughed and then while getting up from the table said, ” I’ll be the one leafing,” and i walked out. I found out later from a friend who worked there that they had just started a new H program that was supposed to guarantee only the best workers, this at the behest of their new hotshot HR person who was a snot nosed punk with his newly inked masters who never worked an actual day in his life.

difficult interview does not mean any thing negative – take positive aspect namely that one has gained experience and the next time around you will fare much better with better preparation – no substitute foe Experience . After all the organization wants the best talent with good thinking mind .Good Academic means not good enough – skills should match to be the best .

Honda too has the lower-emp-number-greater-seniority rule. If for some reason you have a lower no. when you leave, and return to to company with experience elsewhere, you actually have a lower value than someone who spent donkey’s years there.

Sort of an ‘Office Space’ scenario: the more you act like you don’t care the more intrigued they become of you!

Bingo! I’ve found that in many cases, if not most, that the interviewer wants to hear what they want to hear and nothing you have to offer called the “truth”. I’ve always been respectful and upbeat, no BS, with those who interview me, but being honest, and that is my character because that’s how I was raised: I hate lying. I can also pick out the psycho-babble being pitched my way. If they noticed that I’m clued in then the air in the room would take on a sudden chill. Upon reflection I can usually point out to myself the questions where a thick dollop of BS would have greased the wheels.

Same here…

I’m laughing. Because most you people criticizing the inneficiency of HR COMPLETELY miss the point.

When you complain about interviewers being rude, non welcoming, irrelevant…your are ABSOLUTELY right and you know why?

Because, this is like school, they are not choosing someone who will respond to them or be independant, but most of the time someone who will accept their crap, shut up and do the work without questioning or complaining…

That’s the profile that most big companies look after, because they already have markets and establishments so huge that they don’t need innovators or “pushers”, they just need a turn over of young influencable and obeying people to make the machine work.

With growth comes complexity. If that is not handled well, senescence is inevitable. With growth such aberrancies of individual misbehaviour (as seen in the interviewer) progressively increase till eventually they impact the company’s momentum. Google is at just such a stage with rising challenges from within and without that could overwhelm its smooth running unless more robust mechanisms are in place.

if u really do not have time for this conversation , then you would not wag around your toungue here . atleast stick 2 ur words mate . if not interested , then keep quiet busy man ….

mate all this while you are claiming to be the busy bee out of the flock and don’t have a second to pluck your nose even , but turns out the other way . YOU ARE THE 1 whose comments are filling up this page . , seems like you really do not have much 2 do out there

hi there surya

It’s a canned response you dumbass. Unless you’re retarded, it takes five seconds to copy and paste. BTW, what are you trying to prove here? I’m a college student. I don’t have a job. But I’m still busier than you.

Dude you’re not proving anything by saying that. go back and do your caveman business. The internet doesn’t give a fuck about you so STFU.

Bingo! Rude, unprofessional behavior on the part of interviewers. I’ve had a couple of experiences where a phone interview was scheduled and they just STOOD ME UP. No call, nothing, not before or even after the scheduled time. If a company does that to me ONCE, they are crossed off my list.

Have a look on it.

Surya Prakash – What I can see is that you are not fit for IT job or any kind of job. You need to learn to be a team player. Some few Indians have bad work habits does not mean they do not have right to compete. Do not forget the Names like Gandhiji , Swami Vivekanda , CV raman , Amartya Sen and many more , who were repected and honoured by western world for their ideas and way of life. So change your perspective you will feel better.

how the fuck do i turn off notifications? Anyone?

After all these comments by stupid people, I can see your’s is no different. Please leave me alone. I’ve got work to do unlike you.

I found that some companies look for quick coders, not for talented ones. They give one hour to write a test program that they expect to be working, documented and tested. Well it’s fine if a person gets a task closely related with the job he or she currently does. This approach, however, doesn’t give a chance to people that are good but need to think first. I understand that wanting to test people remotely is a difficult task but this the way to hire coding monkeys instead of innovative individuals that push things forward.

I would rather love to discuss this with your father who I think would be much much more wiser than you. My advise to you is to focus on study & try to get a good job so you are not counted in US Jobless people, else you ll be cursing Indian people again !!!

Good luck my boy.

if its true then i must say its pathetic !!!!
politics is everywhere,but knowledge rules everywhere…
if u dont have knowledge then anybody can suppress u….
if u have that so called knowledge,u get the respect.. Thats it…

Why is everyone thinking it is just Google, Honda and only reserved for large companies? Every company sucks at the hiring process, every position has a built-in politics with other departments and people.
I’ve been on interviews:

1) where the people around the table asked questions that came from a Google search (they even told me!) and I could tell they had no idea on how to evaluate the responses.

2) where the company has a policy that they have to interview outside the company before they promote internally. I spent days studying the company, reviewing interview questions and brainstorming with friends on what to expect.

3) where the company does not let you know where you stand in the interview process. This is probably 80% of the most companies that I’ve met who will not follow-up with you to let you know they’re decision – follow-through, follow-through and follow-through! Simply finish what you started!

4) one company just asked questions to learn a specific tactic. I went on one interview where the sales director kept asking me questions on social media. What was I suppose to do? In the end, all the responsibility is left on the interviewee. I met a head hunter who also kept asking me questions on social media and how should she evaluate whether it is good for her. I was the professional one and answered all their questions.

5) where companies have no idea what they are looking for so they keep changing the mandate as they meet the potential employees. In other words, the candidates help them define the role they need. This one is insulting – totally.

6) one company was the best, the woman kept making faces when she disliked my answer. This made me feel wonderful. Really awesome!

People are unprepared when faced with these types of scenarios. We have to learn as we go and unfortunately, the people that are in the hiring position are probably not reading this post so will never learn.

Good luck to everyone!

The employee number does not necessarily reflect an associate’s seniority. There have been many associates who were transferred between plants and were required to change their employee number. You don’t think they lose their seniority do you?

I successfully interviewed with McKinsey back in the early 90s. The interview questions were interesting and open ended – ‘estimate when half of the adults in the US will own a mobile phone, or, Lou Gerstner just called you to his new CEO office at IBM and says ‘what should I do?’.

I think the best advice I got on the process was straight out of interview prep and job hunt books:
1) Don’t be afraid to say ‘let me think for 60 seconds’ before talking – you build an outline of what you’re going to say, and don’t freak them out by sitting there silent and motionless.

2) Use paper, whiteboard, etc, to outline stuff and talk to your writing. They see you making a plan instead of just rushing in. Calm in an emergency is a very valuable trait, as is taking time to plan before acting – that’s a very basic Project Management sort of trait to show, even if you’re not interviewing to be a PM.

3) Restate the question and then state the assumptions and say ‘I’m winging some of this, please feel free to jump in if I’m pulling one of the inputs out of the wrong memory file ” – you’re outlining again, and inviting the interviewer to be a participant instead of a heckler or antagonist. This skill is useful for antagonistic clients/customers too, and you can demonstrate it mid-interview.

4) Like public speaking 101 – tell em what you’re gonna tell em, tell em, tell em what you told em. Keep an eye on time passage and manage it, even pointedly set a watch on the table so that you show you’re managing that interview segment to stay on track (they can say ‘lets run longer’, but then a time run-over is on them, not on you rambling through an answer). You allow your interview to leave an impression of thought out presentation, and not ‘how much rambling talk can I cram into 5/15/45 minutes

5) Proactively embrace and own mistakes. I’m an experimental physicist (MckInsey was an interesting sideways veer, to be sure), and happily say ‘ I make mistakes for a living, and there’ve been some doozies.’ When you claim mistakes, they’re not ammo, they’re just part of the terrain, and you show you know that they happen. (The comedian version of this is – if you get hecklers, agree with whatever they say, with a smile in your voice. Aikido with jokes). Rather pointedly, one of the most memorable interactions I had during the several rounds of McKinsey interviews was asking a partner ‘So, amidst the McKinsey rep of finely crafted client services, have you ever had an engagement that was just an utter disaster?’ The guy chuckled, smiled, and said – ‘can’t tell you any details, etc, but yes, there was this one that just was a train wreck .’ I suspect that was one of the more memorable questions he got from a candidate that day.

I’d leave commentary on McKinsey culture to be that if you have a personality that really loves the work there, it can be a well paid wealth of opportunity. If your fundamental interests lie elsewhere, you may be technically able to do the work, but it will probably be an exhausting tenure.

stepping aside from the McK style case study questions, the other good distinction to make is between skilled interviewers who are abrasive, and people who are just bad interviewers. For the latter, it can be an opportunity for you to pretty much take the interview over and help them out.

My most memorable prep book, that I’ve recommended to plenty of people, is Knock ‘em Dead, by Martin Yate. It’s revised every couple of years and a very good value in a trade paperback.

I always walk into an interview with a list of typed questions for the interviewer and time is always given at the end where they ask “do you have anything to ask us?” A typed and spaced list of questions relating to company culture and general job details always impresses. It shows that I can think a head, have actually put some thought into this job and take it seriously, that I can be prepared, am organized, and that I don’t have a problem being in the hot seat or in a control position. I’ve never not gotten a job that I interviewed for, and I have interviewed with a few on this list….

@suryamp:disqus you should know why no one helps you out now. look at the amount of disagreements with your opinion. may be if you had enough respect for others, you would have received their help and the respect. but it’s wise not to have too many expectations on others.

i can understand you’ve been brought up in the US but so is tom and jerry, but why only you have the problem with indians GOD alone knows. have you given a thought about it?? i still wonder why you are named surya prakash manchikanti, and not shane paul martin. it’s a shame if someone is confused between his identity.

There are too many great people from India placed in very influential places around the world so i think your judgement about indians being lazy and ignorant is just wrong. change your views and attitude and rest will change automatically.

When I interview somebody for any job position, the actual interview accounts for only 20% of my for selection criteria!. Obviously others are References, Ability Tests, Work Samples if required!. But what I base the most importance on is this simple equation.
B= f (P+e), which basically means, Behavior is a function of the person, (Attitudes, Beliefs, Habits and Expectations) plus their environment!
Being able to identify stars from lemons comes only after years of practice in the work-place, and one’s ability to pick up on body language and facial/eye contact.
It is easy to choose somebody with all the necessary abilities and qualifications, but lurking underneath can be problems that can frustrate and damage the working environment!
At the end of the day for me, I must always think outside the square when I am recruiting, and not fall into the trap of looking for staff that are most like myself!

pls involveved me 9763722229

I do agree with you. I am an Indian working in a IT company and I couldn’t agree more with your observations and that of Andy’s. It’s a matter of damn shame to Indians.

Keep in mind that you are interviewing them too. Obviously you haven’t found the right company yet, hopefully someday you do!

I interviewed with P&G after being a temporary there, so the experience was different. The people who did go through the interview process said it was grueling.

I’m not sure why a company with a difficult interview process should necessarily wear it as a badge of honor… give me a candidate with street smarts and common sense over someone who knows how to Google the GDP of Ghana a week ago last Tuesday…

I wouldn’t want to presume to speak for any one race, or the other. Having said that, I am an Indian by race too, and I’m damned if I would let anyone get away with commenting that I am not upfront with my credentials or my capabilities, and that I would tend to be evasive when stumped for an answer. You, Surya seem to be one of those who think that fawning, and bad-mouthing your own, is the best way to gain acceptance. I pity your lack of confidence in who you are, and am equally ashamed as you are, to know that you are an Indian too.

@ cyber: While you are at it, you might want to ask Mr. Manchikanti Sr. why on earth did he not invest in a good quality condom? He could have saved all of us a hell to lot of time that is being wasted in arguing with his a**hole progeny!

Amazon was difficult in the interview process…

I thought the people were awesome. The interviews were interesting and challenging.

Nestle was very tough to get through for a job, I have all the experience in the world for that job and they said I did not pass the Cybex test, which I knew I could do any production or assembly job there, then they looked in my credit file, why? I feel it was my age, why do companies do this, I felt I had the job and they did not give it to me. I am a hard worker, and I know it was my age. Then had a phone interview with Amazon and I know I could have done alot of jobs there and they never called back and the interviewer asked a bunch of crazy questions and then never ever called me back, and I heard alot of young people were getting the jobs, and I feel again it was my age and why?

I think everyone can be lazy… And that can be generalized for all races and I understand that you have a stronger view about Indians because you are one..but you cant be saying u r the only good non lazy Indian out there. To me it sounds like hatred and I get that you dont want to be associated with Indian but u r still Indian and you are representing your race no matter how bad u dnt want to. Sounds like you have a personal identity crisis and that should be dealt with personally before u group Indians together in a negative light.

In times of high unemployment, interviewers know it’s a buyers market. Some may try to use a tuff interview to weed out the pretenders but they would be better off to ask questions that are pertanant to the task at hand. Some interviews get really smug with a “I have something that you want” attitude. The fact is, we all have to or have had to interview sometime and the reputation for an intervew that is unreasonable may well lead to the loss of top prospective employees who know they can get a good position without the hastle. If the purpose of an interview is just to see how much crap I’ll take, I have to think that the job must entail a lot of the same! The best rule is give respect and expect respect… treat the people being interview that way you would want to be treated if you were on the other side of the desk.

I interviewed at Amazon. The first interview lasted 5 minutes and was basically to verify that I had indeed applied and to go over my information. The next interview was supposed to be with the hiring manager and was supposed to be just a general interview over the phone the next week. The date came and the caller was 20 minutes late. They (there were 2 of them on the line) told me that they had just been told about the interview. I asked if they were the hiring manager and they said no that they were going to ask technical questions. Wow! I was really not prepared for that. I had worked on my non-technical questions and here I was about to get some technical questions. I felt ambushed. The first question was about a technology no one uses and hasn’t used in 5 years. Next was another question that really had nothing to do with the job. Then another about a technology that I didn’t use and was not listed on the job description. The next question was about where the job was located. They were surprised and laughed about the fact that I wanted the job because of the location. I was from that location. I blew through the rest of the questions and they asked if there was any questions I had and I said no and hung up. A few days passed and I go an email stating that they had decided to go with another applicant. They stated they would keep my resume in case something else came up. I requested they delete my resume and not contact me again.

i vana job serch pls tell me sir

Interesting! I read few comments by Surya and war of words in between. I am a finance pro. CPA+ and I have worked with one of the big 4 in the US on CFO Advisory services and managed several engagements with tech companies. Several of them had so many Indians working there that one wondered whether it was an American company or an Indian one! Usually, the IT group was headed by an American manager and lot of IT line jobs were performed by Indians. The general consensus was that the Indian IT workers were hard working and did not argue: in short subservient. May be there are a few that are n’t. Hard to tell. However, if you are an Indian and been to an accredited University such as the Ivy league or qualified professionally, I don’t think anyone would try to insult you during the interview process or that you would rush to the meal table at the first hint of free food…(refer: Surya’s comment). As for work ethic; a good education at a top school or attaining a professional education with decent pedigree is expected to teach a person unwavering work ethic, integrity besides vision and strategic mindset.

Thanks to sharing a nice post. That’s give a batter review to find a best jobs. Consulting Firms playing a major roles to get a good job opportunity in many fields.

i want more details

i agree to u ,,, people being an indian dnt respect dir country ….
i love my country , a country having people frm every religious nd stayng lyk so cool nd friendly . dats awesome .MAM ……

surya dude ur four father were also into caveman businessman nd dnt u frget ur an indian dat would be bymistakely…..im nt supporting d indian dude…. im just saying in favor of my india . im a son of a army officer . dnt ever underestimate indian people . they can sale u by just pointing a finger … so keep ur fucking frustration upto u …. and keep quite .

ya must be cleaning dir toilets

dude, quit fucking around and get back to work. STFU.

Do you have any idea of what’s going on here? No obviously. You think you can barge in here whenever you want. I haven’t been here for weeks. Leave me alone.

you must think working in an office leeching off others is a respectable job. Understand “Dignity of Labor” and then talk. You’re a disgusting human being. Even for indian standards. You think your father is in the army go ahead. I have two friends that are Marines. I know a few Indian army guys too. So if you wanna talk about powerful contacts go back home and whimper. If you don’t like my opinion, GTFO. I don’t need your intimidation bullshit.

Im an Indian recently located to US and I agree with Mr Surya completely. Indians sucks when it comes to work ethics

* Indians suck when it comes to work ethics