There is an initial high level phone interview so that they can see that you are a normal person and judge your compatibility. This went fine. Then you are given a case study to perform as well as personality test. I won't go into much detail on the personality test. Few will be surprised to learn that these tests are beyond stupid and it is difficult to believe that companies actually use this pseudo-science that everyone lies on anyways to make hiring decisions.
For the case study I was given compensation data for executives at an imaginary firm. The firm targets compensation in the 1st or 2nd quartile (can't remember which), but employees are complaining that compensation is low. You are to figure out if the employees' concerns are legitimate or not. From a technical perspective, the assignment is very simple and straightforward to figure out. After spending an hour on that I spent a few hours making a nice powerpoint as if I was presenting to the firm.
Finally, there is a call with two of the interviewers where you present your findings/powerpoint as if they are a client. The want it to go a half hour, but the question is so simple that I could not fill up more than 10 minutes of the time. They asked a few questions, which I answered and the entire interview was over in 15 minutes.
I got feedback from the recruiter that I did not get the job because provide enough detail/explanation. I wish I could fully express how basic the findings were. There were like 10 execs, and you run a quartile function in excel, then look at the notional market data they give you to see if the salaries are high or low. What are you looking for here? If you ask me what 2 plus 2 equals and I tell you 4, there's not much more I can say on the subject.
Overall, I wasted the better part of a Sunday afternoon doing their dumb case study and personality test. Horrible interview. Waste of my time. Would not recommend to anyone.
I applied through other source. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at FPL Advisory Group (Chicago, IL) in Sept 2015
Interview
I Interviewed with 3 team members and did a brief screen prior to that. The interviews went smoothly and I have nothing to complain about. Most of the questions were behavioral questions and there was one case question but it wasn't as intensive as other case questions for other consulting firms.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What are three words your friends would use to describe you?
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at FPL Advisory Group (Chicago, IL) in Nov 2011
Interview
The interview process was unorthodox and somewhat disrespectful. Candidates were asked a series of questions unrelated to the job so that the interviewer could assess broad-range and analytical thinking. Had the interviewer (a former lawyer) been a psychologist, sociologist or human anthropologist, the process would have held more merit. I was told by the interviewer, to her surprise, that a few candidates had walked out on the interview because of such questioning. This should have been a queue for me that the interviewing process would be a waste of my time, but press on I did. Having an INTJ personality type, I answered the questions creatively and analytically, winning the approval of my interviewer. When I asked what might hold me back from proceeding to the next stage in the hiring process, she responded that there was nothing. Weeks and weeks had passed after the interview and still I heard nothing from FPL, even after various follow-up emails and thank-yous. Finally after a month, my recruiter informed me that FPL could not afford to hire a new VP.
I found the group to have overinflated egos given the size and status of its firm and to be disrespectful to candidates in addition to lacking vision and direction in business strategy.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How many baseballs are there in Chicago?
If you had to get rid of one state in the Union, which would it be and why?
