Corporate Executive Board Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details telephone interview, it takes less than 20 minutes. tell me about your self. how to be a good sales person

Interview Details Started with a phone interview with a recruiter, and just like every other review on here I was asked to come in for a face to face. The phone interview was a piece of cake and I'm not sure that anyone has done a phone interview with this company and not been asked to go in for a face to face. The face to face interview was all behavioral questions (6 of them) and seemed to me like kind of a joke. The two people interviewing me had only worked there for like 2 years and I am unsure how qualified they actually are to be interviewing. They did not have any meaningful follow up questions, I was dressed much more professionally than they were, and the entire process seemed too casual in general. After leaving the interview, which I thought I did very well, I immediately decided that whether I was offered a position or not, I was not going to work there. I would maybe suggest a place like this for someone coming right out of college, but if you have any experience at all my suggestion would be to look eslewhere.

Also, if you do interview here just google "behavioral interview questions" because that's definitely how they came up with their questions. You will definitely be prepared if you just do this.

Interview Details Had an initial few calls with the internal recruiter (very nice), who asked for general questions, then a slightly more detailed interview to screen to see if I was a good fit.

Scheduled main interview - went into the CEB headquarters (great building) and interview with a few people, each a different type of interview. For all of them I was given an HBR article about a piece of the company's research (several days in advance), and for the first person I had to summarize the person mentioned in the article in one word (and explain why). For the second person I had to talk about how I would use the ideas from the article to persuade a C level exec. Third person was a standard behavioral interview where we talked about the role and the company.

Good process overall - took a little while but everyone was nice and helpful. Took the job, and am very happy at the company so far.

Negotiation Details – Didn't really negotiate at all, which was pretty dumb. I was very excited for the offer and jumped on it too quickly.

Interview Details I was referred by a friend who worked there. Recruiter was helpful, did a phone interview, then asked me to take an online assessment. This was two parts, one personality based, the other was aptitude (analyzing data, understanding what data means, graphs, logical order questions). Then I was handed a questionnaire of 4 behavioral questions to write my answer and submit before my in-person interview. This was tough, but they wanted writing samples and they told me I did very well. The in-person interview was very difficult and confusing. The first hour was an interview with a Director who asked me a number of behavioral questions, some similar to the ones I had already answered. He was very helpful, guided me through the process well, gave excellent feedback, and said I did very well. The recruiter informed me I did excellent on this part.

The second part was not such a great experience. They sat me in a room for an hour to review a "stack" of information, data they had run regarding a common problem in the HR industry. They also gave a situation sheet regarding the "sales situation" that I would be role-playing for. I was told before the interview that I would be demonstrating a sales process from start to finish. This is not what I was asked of in the interview. I interpreted the data just fine and was hoping to utilize my sales skills to "sell" or "pitch" the data as a solution for the "client". I met with a young, new sales manager, and then the sales director was over the phone. Rather than let me walk through a sales process, he broke it down into small sections, skipping parts of the process and instead asking me questions. The questions were confusing, jumped all over the sales process, from middle, to end, to beginning, to middle...it was very difficult to follow and I wasn't always clear on what he was asking. He had also interrupted one of my responses to his question saying "well what is it you sell, I don't know what it is you do." The situation sheet they provided me CLEARLY STATED "this individual you are selling to is familiar with your company and has used your services in the past." He then gave me a set of objections that I was to overcome. The "objections" he gave weren't objections, they were blow offs. It gave me the impression they weren't looking for sales professionals, but people who want to hound and annoy potential clients. I've done that before and I didn't feel that sales approach aligned with a consultative company like CEB, but I guess I may be wrong.

I'm a seasoned sales professional with a 7 year track record of success and have demonstrated my ability to deliver content to client and overcome objection. The evaluation process I was given did not effectively determine that and was pretty much a waste of my afternoon. I regret taking time off work to interview with them. When I left the interview I had decided I would not work for this company. They sent me a rejection email about 8 days later.

Interview Details I applied via their Corporate Website and received an email quite shortly after submitting my application to set up a phone interview.

Phone Interview:
Behavioral based regarding some basic questions regarding teamwork, adversity, and etc.
- I passed that portion of the interview and was then flown down for a face-to-face interview.

Two Face-to-Face Panel Interviews:
1) Wanted to get to know more about me and so forth, very relax and so forth. Nice and great guy with some great conversation.
2) Behavioral based primarily targeted around teamwork and having a good fit within the department. It wasn't 'that' intense, but it definitely didnt have ANYTHING to do with the company's background. It lasted about an hour and the interviewers were VERY nice and respectful, definitely very nice.

Overall, the people I met were great. They have an amazing office in Arlington, VA and it definitely seemed like a great company.

Interview Details Initial phone call - basic questions about my resume and my interests. Afterwards I completed the Raven and Hogan assessments, both of which are pretty straightforward and nothing to worry about.

On-site Interviews - consisted of two hour-long behavioral interviews and one hour-long case interview. The three people that interviewed me were from different practice areas (HR, IT, and Legal). The questions were pretty standard, "explain a time when..." Just make sure to have the problem, action, and solution mapped out because that's what the interviewers guideline sheets are formatted like. One I remember was "explain a time when you had to convince a group to follow your thinking or opinion on a project."

A week after my interviews I received an email saying that they were not moving forward with an offer, but that they really valued their conversations with me and that the recruiter would be happy to answer any questions I may have. I have sent two emails since then requesting feedback about why the felt I was not a good fit for the role and am yet to receive a response.

Interview Details It was a simple interview and I was a fresher. More behavioural questions were asked.

Negotiation Details – No Negotiation

Interview Details Applied online and first contact was a general phone interview. The phone interview was a positive experience and the recruiter was actually quite pleasant and engaged. Following the phone interview, I took an online assessment which was a pretty standard job assessment. Shortly after the assessment, I was contacted by the recruiter and informed that I passed the assessment at which time she offered the possibility of interviewing in person. Over the next few days, the recruiter scheduled an interview. I was greeted by a receptionist and led into a small room. This part of the interview process was a complete nightmare and felt more like an interrogation as opposed to a true judgement of my character and work ethic. While I understand behavioral interviewing techniques, this was ridiculous, unprofessional and completely turned me off. (I'm not joking.. I would have declined an offer if one had eventually been made; thats how bad this was). Initially, the greeting was ok and after sitting down, the interviewers didn't once mention a single thing on my resume, give me a chance to talk about myself or what I had to offer the company. Instead, they asked narrow and to be frank completely pointless questions. All of the questions asked were generic "Explain a time when you were faced with a tough sale and began losing it, what did you do... so on so forth". No matter what response I gave (always the truth), they gave each other a funny look and practically made me feel stupid. Both of these individuals were young, wouldn't qualify for a similar position at another company and came off completely unprofessional (at least in my opinion). Its interesting; the firm describes itself as a member based advisory firm that advise on best practices in several specific areas yet you think they would look more into creating a positive interview process. I completely understand if I didn't happen to be the right candidate and I applaud whoever got the position but if you want an honest assessment.. you'll do better elsewhere.

- I could prepare and lie my way through their process (questions far too generic). The questions don't prove anything.

Interview Details Psychometric tests

Telephone interview

Face 2 Face interview

The interview took place at CEB offices in Holborn. Two hiring managers jointly conducted the interview. The initial stages of the interview followed a normal path with the usual questions where you are asked to follow a STAR technique and then a role-play where you are required to simulate a sales call to an executive.
Throughout the interview, while one fo the two asked the questions and listened to my reply the other manger acted in a weird manner, yawning and checking the time on her watch. I had the impression this was staged and probably a way to test my reactions or my personality. Although this appeared unusual I had no problem whatsoever with this and I felt comfortable and confident.

Towards the end of the interview on of the two manager posed me a question that I felt had no reason to be asked and that really changed the atmosphere in the room, making me feel uncomfortable and unwanted as a potential future employee. She asked: “ How do you feel being 28 years old and knowing that most of the other candidates competing with you for this vacancy are fresh graduates from university and are much younger than you, in fact in their early 20s? ”. I tried not to look surprised by the question and answered professionally and with a good answer, which I do not need to detail here. However, as I formulated my answer I start feeling deeply offended and discriminated against by her question, which in fact did not sound as a question but rather as an affirmation of the fact that my age was a problem that made me unsuitable for the position.

 Although I am sure that me being 28 years old played no part in the decision that they made regarding my application, I know her question did, since my state of mind changed drastically: I felt harassed and discriminated in a context (a job interview) that is not comfortable and relaxed in itself , this caused me to take a defensive attitude that apparently led to the decision of not taking my application further (as highlighted in the feedback I received from you).

When I left the conference room where the interview had taken place, I was “beaten up” and “shoked” by the experience , later that day, I began doubting I wanted to work for a company where my superior or my colleagues could show a similar behavior towards me.

CEB takes pride in stating that they are an equal opportunity company, my experience would not support that statement. I have submitted a formal complaint to the HR director of the company and an inquiry has been started to investigate this matter.

To all of you who are applying at CEB, good luck!