I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at General Mills (Mississauga, ON)
Interview
Got the interview through a recruiter who couldn't find out much bout the job responsibilities or priorities of the department, but She speaks very highly about the company for obvious reasons.
Three half and hour in-person interviews, one each with a Hiring Manager, Team Lead and HR personnel.
All the interviews had the same Behavioral format - Situation, Action and Result, which is only good for HR interview. I am not sure why the functional folks gets to follow the same - HR interview format, since its not at all effective in-terms of getting the information out of the interviewee about their experience, personality or ability to do the job etc.
Each interview lasted 30 min during which they asked 4-5 behavioral questions which took away almost 90% of the time and as such not much time left to ask questions or get to know about the role/team/personality/people/company/culture etc.
Example of questions: Please answer in a format (Situation - Action - Result)
A most difficult situation: When you persuade someone in your team:Had to worked with a very little information: Came across something unexpected: Took corrective actions etc...
Overall all very bookish / schoolish method of interviewing, which may only work for campus recruitment and not for experienced hire which concludes that company only hires fresh graduates of students.
GM HR - please update your interview format starting with the question format to - STARL (Situation, Task, Action, Result and Learning) and let the hiring team decide their own question - if they know what they are looking for of course.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
None difficult question. Only unexpected thing was that the format of interview was same for all the three rounds - which is quite uncommon and ineffective.
I applied through college or university. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at General Mills (Minneapolis, MN) in Feb 2012
Interview
There were 3 rounds. The first round was very brief with two women from the company, the second was more intensive with the same two women, where various behavioral and situational questions were asked to gauge culture fit and and knowledge of marketing trends and strategies. There is a personality type test that is also given, asking many ethics questions.
The final round was on site at a beautiful corporate headquarters in Minnesota. It was a long day, with 6 interviews total and a test/ presentation.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What promotional strategies would you use for a Honey Nut Cheerios campaign.
I applied through college or university. I interviewed at General Mills
Interview
The hiring process is extremely elaborate. First, there are on-campus interviews. Then, if they like you, you are asked to come to HQ for an entire day of interviews, including a group discussion, testing and simulations of sales scenarios.