I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Paychex
Interview
The process started out with an extremely nice recruiter who screens you and passes you along to a district manager. The district manager asks very basic questions and does most of the talking which can be frustrating because you feel as though they aren't going to learn much about you if they do all of the talking. They tell you that the process will go quickly, but you then must do a field ride along with someone which is a job shadow for a day. This is interesting and teaches you a lot about what you'd be doing on the job. I didn't like it personally because I felt like this was Paychex' way of getting the person you shadow to ask you questions that they aren't allowed to ask in interviews. After the ride along, you'd meet with the zone manager. The zone manager again will do most of the talking, explaining things, asking if you have questions for them, but doesn't really ask many questions to get to know who YOU are and what you're capable of delivering. Frustrating. If you try to follow up with either manager you will never get a response, you must follow up through the recruiter who also will not get answers from the managers. My experience ended with the zone manager saying they'd make a decision within 24 hours, then not hearing back for 6 days.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They really don't ask you anything out of the ordinary. They do most of the talking.
I applied online. The process took 5 days. I interviewed at Paychex (Hartford, CT) in Mar 2013
Interview
The initial communication is a phone call from a recruiter, if you accept to go onto the next step you will be asked to complete an online assessment. After passing the assessment, there are two possible in person interviews. You will have both interviews in a conference room either with one person or with multiple people - the focus of these interviews will be to get a sense of your personality and where your dedication lies. Yes, there is even a personality test they ask you to take at the first interview that is a factor if you will be asked back for a second interview.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What would you do if a customer called you with an IT based question? (I was interviewing for a payroll position)
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Paychex
Interview
First I received an email from the recruiter, which I was skeptical about, but we set up a phone interview that week. She asked a few basic questions and set up an interview with my branch. This was the beginning of several interviews.
Everyone at the office was pleasant. They took me to a conference room where I was interviewed by two people. Then, they brought me a personality test to take, which was actually pretty lengthy. THEN, they brought in two more people, and I went through the whole thing again.
I received a call a day later to come back in and interview with two MORE people, the branch manager and assistant branch manager. I came in again, and met with them in another conference room. They asked some pretty tough questions- "Where do I see myself in 5 years", and "What am I expecting from this position" but nothing too out of the ordinary.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Between all 6 people there were some pretty difficult questions. They seemed to ask a lot of similar questions, and I kept feeling like I was repeating myself, answering the same question several different ways. I remember, they asked me to rank my past jobs from favorite to least favorite, which I was not expecting. They asked a lot of situational questions, how to handle escalated situations, how did you solve the problem, etc., so be prepared with stories.