I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Bloomberg in Aug 2011
Interview
Asked to fix a time for phone interview. Woman was friendly and easygoing. Then asked to come to the company for interview, next day proceeded to a group interview.
The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Bloomberg (New York, NY) in Jan 2010
Interview
Emailed and set up a phone interview. Questions were somewhat difficult. Why Bloomberg? What do you know about the position? What do you want to do when here? What do you know about Bloomberg as a whole
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Bloomberg (New York, NY) in Jul 2011
Interview
I applied directly online at Bloomberg's career website. Heard back the next day to schedule a phone interview (great HR!). The interviewer was very nice and sounded enthusiastic about the company and what it does. She started off asking about what I know about Bloomberg, the position, and why do I want to work for Bloomberg. Lets me stress again: What do you know about Bloomberg, what do you know of this position, and WHY DO YOU WANT TO WORK FOR THEM. She than asked pretty specific questions off my resume; how my previous experiences applies to the position, if I had any previous sales experience how did I managed a difficult client, and why I quit my previous position. She didn't ask me any of the usual interview questions, she pretty much led the entire interview, so your mileage may vary.
You have to convince her why you want to work for Bloomberg and why you want to work in Sells. I wasn't very enthusiastic about being a sells person as this program apparently is a dead end from what I hear.