I applied online. I interviewed at Gartner (Madrid) in Apr 2025
Interview
My experience with the hiring process at Gartner was disappointing and overly demanding compared to what is reasonable for a recruitment process.
While I understand the need for structured evaluation, the process felt excessively long, repetitive, and time-consuming, involving multiple interview rounds, extensive preparation, and a detailed case study presentation in person. The overall experience required a significant investment of personal time and energy.
At times, the process felt more like unpaid consulting work than a candidate evaluation, especially considering the depth of preparation required before any final outcome was guaranteed.
Additionally, communication throughout the process could have been clearer and more consistent, which added unnecessary uncertainty during an already intensive journey.
Overall, while Gartner is a strong global brand, the candidate experience in this process did not reflect efficiency, respect for candidates’ time, or a balanced approach to hiring.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Gartner
Interview
Recruiter wasn't upfront about the scope of the role. Got to the fourth round to be told this was more of a sales-led function and I didn't have the right experience. This is what happens when the first 3 rounds are with a recruiter who doesn't understand the role and pushes you to succeed despite clear incompatibilities.
I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Gartner
Interview
The interview process was very long (about 2.5 months) with a lot of gaps between interviews. If you've never used the STAR method before, this is exclusively the interview style they want. There were four rounds:
1) 15 min phone call with a recruiter
2) Video call with a senior recruiter
3) Video call with the hiring manager (and perhaps others)
4) Video panel interview with the entire team (where they ask you pretty tough questions for 45 minutes to an hour)
There would have been a fifth round of a panel presentation (what am I presenting? Good question.) But in the end, they told me they were taking the role back in-house to decide what they actually needed (Why was this not the first step before posting the job?) in Q4 (but I actually saw the same job posted a month later).
I understand that there's a certain learning process involved in interviewing for the team, but it definitely felt like I was very qualified for this job, yet was strung along for almost three months.
I have a lot of friends who work at this company in various businesses and love it, just be aware of the risks of interviewing with a huge company with a lot of approval/discussion processes.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How have you used data and AI for your clients?
What’s the most successful conference content you worked on and why?
What’s the best and worst thing a conference presenter can do in their presentation?
What’s the most challenging thing you’ve faced in your career and why?
The first thing we would do in this role would be to have you put together best practices for our conference presenters. How would you go about doing that from the first day?
What excites you most about your roles in the past and what do you think would excite you most here?
What do you think you would struggle with the most coming from a smaller company into a bigger one like Gartner?
We get a lot of clients who just want to reuse old presentations for this conference. How would you approach a stubborn, C-level client like this to get to the best presentation for them?