I submitted my resume online through CoStar's web site. Twenty minutes later I received an e-mail from a recruiter asking me to fill out a short questionnaire (career goals, strengths, weaknesses, opinion of former bosses, etc.). After sending this is, I was scheduled for a phone interview. The interview itself was standard. I was asked about a time when I went above and beyond the call of duty, how my co-workers would describe me, why CoStar, why commercial real-estate, am I comfortable making 35-50 calls a day, am I comfortable being evaluated and ranked by performance metrics, am I comfortable using Excel (sort and auto-filter), etc. I was never asked to elaborate further on my response, so make sure you cover everything the first time; you won't get a second chance. The interviewer always responded with "Great", "Good" and so on, but don't assume this means your answer scored high. I received some information about the position. Every Research Associate is assigned a portfolio of 1,000-1,500 properties which need to be updated on a 30-day cycle. The company uses 10 metrics to rank the RAs into top 10%, top 70% and bottom 30%. Everyone can see your numbers and you can also see theirs. The base salary is $40,000 and there are additional incentives upon meeting performance goals. Assuming stellar performance, you could move up from RA to Reseach Manager in about 3 years. There was ample time to ask my own questions which were answered thoroughly and honestly. The recruiter told me he would get back to me in 24 hours and he did, albeit with bad news. I dealt with the same person throughout the process which I liked. Overall, a straightforward and professional interviewing experience.