I applied through college or university. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Nielsen (New York, NY) in Nov 2009
Interview
I first had to apply through my university's recruiting pipeline. After that, I was given an in-person initial interview with the recruiter, who was very nice and "on my side." She asked most of the normal interview questions, with some tough situation-based questions thrown in, as well. I made it through that interview, was asked to complete a very involved questionnaire, and then was subsequently asked to come in for a final interview with 2 HR managers. They were very friendly, and the interview was more like a laid-back conversation. I thought all went well, but I was given a form rejection email rather quickly thereafter.
Very straightforward and communicative. Each step of their decision was laid out in both the proceeding interview and follow-up emails. There was a preliminary interview and a more intensive follow-up I found that I did not have to ask too many questions about the interview process, it was just conversation about the role.