The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Paychex in Sep 2010
Interview
Was contacted initially by HR person, who was very nice. There was a phone interview with same HR person, then she recommended me for a 1:1 interview with a local manager. Met with him, didn't get offer in the end. Company seemed really organized and professional. The hiring process has 4 steps--phone interview, local manager interview, ride along with local manager, and interview with district manager which was in Dallas.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Paychex (Atlanta, GA) in Sep 2010
Interview
I was called by a recruiter after she found my resume posted online. I had a phone interview that lasted about 45 minutes. Very basic, was more conversationalist during this step. Recruiter wanted to know about me - not many behavioral questions as you would expect from an interview. One week later I had an in person interview with a regional sales manager - again about 45 minutes, very basic conversation and inquiring about me as a person; not much "interview" type about the "nitty gritty" job details. Finally, the following week, in a different office I had a final interview with two other parties. The first interview was with another regional sales manager, questions finally became more job oriented and it began to feel like a "job interview." After a 30 minute talk I took a math exam. This math exam was no joke - there were 45 questions - word problems - and only 16 minutes to complete. I assume the point is to finish as much as possible, I am very good at math and only got through 30 of the questions - few people would actually be able to FINISH this exam. I then took a personality test which took a little more than an hour (the most boring part by far.) The basic test, asks the same question 500 different ways, trying to make sure you're competent enough to answer the same way each time. Finally I met with the Senior VP of the Atlanta Sales Region. She was an "ice queen" to say the least. Very dry, no personality. She had not reviewed my resume at all, and had no idea anything about me. She asked me to simply "start with high school and explain how i got to where I am today...Highlight your qualities that make you stand out from your peers, etc..." She asked no questions and had no feedback during the interview. At the conclusion I asked if I had her recommendation for the position, she said she had little feedback for me (I felt this was odd.)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The most difficult thing I encountered during my interview was not a specific question, but the lack of questions. My final interview was completely open - the interviewer simply asked me to "tell my life story." When I came to a stopping point, where normal interviews would interject questions or guide the conversation, there was nothing. It was very hard to tell what I should be talking about without simply listing my achievements and strengths.