This was easily the strangest interview I've ever had. I was approached by a recruiter who gave me an overview of AlphaSights and the position, which was great. But then I had the group interview... bizarre. There were four other candidates, all of us experienced potential hires (ie not entry level). We were given the spiel about AlphaSights and the position from a few HR people, most of whom only started there a few weeks prior. One senior-ish person who spoke to us spent more time telling us a story about some weird road trip he took than explaining what it is AlphaSights does.They were speaking to us as if we were still in college, seemingly unaware that we were all experienced hires. Then we had to do two group exercises, one in which we had 5 minutes to jointly create a product using random words we pulled out of a hat and present a marketing pitch. Then another where we had 30 minutes to create a new product or service for AlphaSights and present it.
The exercises were fine and I think most of us performed well. However, following the exercises we weren't given any one-on-one time to learn more about the position or ask more questions. I wasn't asked a single question about myself, my skills, my work experience, or anything other than what my favorite app was (yes, seriously). I left without a sense of what the position entailed, or even what the title of the position was. I was never given the chance to explain why I was interested or why I was right for the role. I was later told that they were not moving forward with my application because it "wasn't the right move for my career at this time" and I wasn't a "cultural fit." I can't say I disagree with that assessment, but it still seems like a strange reason to give.
PS, it seems like AlphaSights is seriously abusing Glassdoor reviews--if you read through the 5-star reviews, you see the same phrases being used over and over again. Their office also seems like a phone call center rather than a "knowledge management consulting" center, as they call themselves. Some serious red flags for those considering accepting an offer with them.
