Corporate Executive Board Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details It was a simple interview and I was a fresher. More behavioural questions were asked.

Negotiation Details – No Negotiation

Interview Details The hiring process was fairly smooth and easy for me. It took 21 days in total.

I don't remember exactly, but I guess CEB found my resume on a job search portal. I got a call from a TMT (HR Dept.) journalist telling me about the opportunity for a Web Associate's position. CEB was looking for a person who is well-versed with HTML and first-generation Web technologies. We did not discuss on the compensation part in our initial communication but the way she explained about the company and the job profile, I found that very professional and that gave me a very positive picture about CEB. As I had experience of creating websites so I asked her to process my profile. She scheduled my telephonic interview with a senior manager (based in US) for two days later.

I received the call from US on the exact time as scheduled. He discussed about my background and asked a few technical questions about HTML and other Web related tools and technologies. I was quite confident with my answers. Then he asked me to code a newsletter in HTML from the content he provided in a Word document. I had to submit my work via email within a day's time.

After three days, I received call from TMT journalist again telling that I have cleared the technical round and I need to come to CEB's Gurgaon office for 1-1 interview with TMT.

1-1 interview was nothing but an informal quick chat with TMT and department representative about everything I have done so far. There was nothing technical. It lasted in 30 minutes. The work atmosphere at CEB was very professional and attractive.

Within a week, I received the call confirming my appointment for the position. They offered a package of INR 3,20,000 with several fringe benefits like cab facility, phone, medical reimbursements etc. I was ok with the compensation part, and rather happy with the face of getting Saturday-Sunday as weekend; so I accepted the offer. She sent the formal offer letter with everything clearly stated via email. I send my formal confirmation in my reply.

Interview Details The Board would review profile as per requirement keeping tag on imagination, ability, pick up, decision making, temperament and manners of the candidate. Team leadership is as old a buzz word as the interview; so the board would choose tricky methods to dig deep into the inner being of the candidate while keeping him at the comfort level.

Negotiation Details – It was a period of unemployment those days

Interview Details My interview consisted of 3 rounds
the first one was with the HR or TMT as they call it. Fairly generic and they go through the stuff you mention in your CV
the second round was with the product team, where they dig deep into your CV, test your knowledge against what they are going to hire you against, and perhaps ask you a couple of questions about the current macroeconomic trends
the last round was wth the HR head who takes the final call based on how well you have scored in the previous rounds

Negotiation Details – I did not negotiate, but yes, one should negotiate

Interview Details I initiated the dialogue by calling the recruitment team. I was directed to the recruitment manager from the human resource team. After a few followups I was sent a case study from Kenan Flager business school. I was asked to write a case analysis and send back the write up within 2-3 working days. It was instructure that I do not take more than 4 hours to complete the exercise. I did complete this task and sent a detailed case analysis in word format to the HR manager. She reverted back in one week's time with the feedback that they have liked my analysis and would like to meet me. I visited their office and was interviewed by a research manager. The interview was case based and I was given a typical consulting situation and then we discussed it in a solution approach style. The interviewer was warm and probing. He posed encouraging questions and made me comfortable. After that, I was interviewed by the HR head. The HR coordinator told me that both these rounds have gove well and now I will have to take the final partner round. As the partner was travelling in US, we fixed a telephonic appointment for the same day in late evening. The partner round went really well. Questions asked were general about my passions, likings and overall career goals. By the end of the conversation the partner told me that the firm will make an offer and that I should expect a call from the HR team with the offer in one week's time. I recieved the offer within one week.

Reason for Declining – We could not agree upon the remuneration

Interview Details telephone interview, it takes less than 20 minutes. tell me about your self. how to be a good sales person

Interview Details Started with a phone interview with a recruiter, and just like every other review on here I was asked to come in for a face to face. The phone interview was a piece of cake and I'm not sure that anyone has done a phone interview with this company and not been asked to go in for a face to face. The face to face interview was all behavioral questions (6 of them) and seemed to me like kind of a joke. The two people interviewing me had only worked there for like 2 years and I am unsure how qualified they actually are to be interviewing. They did not have any meaningful follow up questions, I was dressed much more professionally than they were, and the entire process seemed too casual in general. After leaving the interview, which I thought I did very well, I immediately decided that whether I was offered a position or not, I was not going to work there. I would maybe suggest a place like this for someone coming right out of college, but if you have any experience at all my suggestion would be to look eslewhere.

Also, if you do interview here just google "behavioral interview questions" because that's definitely how they came up with their questions. You will definitely be prepared if you just do this.

Interview Details Had an initial few calls with the internal recruiter (very nice), who asked for general questions, then a slightly more detailed interview to screen to see if I was a good fit.

Scheduled main interview - went into the CEB headquarters (great building) and interview with a few people, each a different type of interview. For all of them I was given an HBR article about a piece of the company's research (several days in advance), and for the first person I had to summarize the person mentioned in the article in one word (and explain why). For the second person I had to talk about how I would use the ideas from the article to persuade a C level exec. Third person was a standard behavioral interview where we talked about the role and the company.

Good process overall - took a little while but everyone was nice and helpful. Took the job, and am very happy at the company so far.

Negotiation Details – Didn't really negotiate at all, which was pretty dumb. I was very excited for the offer and jumped on it too quickly.

Interview Details I was referred by a friend who worked there. Recruiter was helpful, did a phone interview, then asked me to take an online assessment. This was two parts, one personality based, the other was aptitude (analyzing data, understanding what data means, graphs, logical order questions). Then I was handed a questionnaire of 4 behavioral questions to write my answer and submit before my in-person interview. This was tough, but they wanted writing samples and they told me I did very well. The in-person interview was very difficult and confusing. The first hour was an interview with a Director who asked me a number of behavioral questions, some similar to the ones I had already answered. He was very helpful, guided me through the process well, gave excellent feedback, and said I did very well. The recruiter informed me I did excellent on this part.

The second part was not such a great experience. They sat me in a room for an hour to review a "stack" of information, data they had run regarding a common problem in the HR industry. They also gave a situation sheet regarding the "sales situation" that I would be role-playing for. I was told before the interview that I would be demonstrating a sales process from start to finish. This is not what I was asked of in the interview. I interpreted the data just fine and was hoping to utilize my sales skills to "sell" or "pitch" the data as a solution for the "client". I met with a young, new sales manager, and then the sales director was over the phone. Rather than let me walk through a sales process, he broke it down into small sections, skipping parts of the process and instead asking me questions. The questions were confusing, jumped all over the sales process, from middle, to end, to beginning, to middle...it was very difficult to follow and I wasn't always clear on what he was asking. He had also interrupted one of my responses to his question saying "well what is it you sell, I don't know what it is you do." The situation sheet they provided me CLEARLY STATED "this individual you are selling to is familiar with your company and has used your services in the past." He then gave me a set of objections that I was to overcome. The "objections" he gave weren't objections, they were blow offs. It gave me the impression they weren't looking for sales professionals, but people who want to hound and annoy potential clients. I've done that before and I didn't feel that sales approach aligned with a consultative company like CEB, but I guess I may be wrong.

I'm a seasoned sales professional with a 7 year track record of success and have demonstrated my ability to deliver content to client and overcome objection. The evaluation process I was given did not effectively determine that and was pretty much a waste of my afternoon. I regret taking time off work to interview with them. When I left the interview I had decided I would not work for this company. They sent me a rejection email about 8 days later.