I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at IBM (London, England) in Nov 2018
Interview
Online application, IPAT test, Hire Vue interview, more short essay questions in an application form with motivation, finally the AC.
I was excited about the company up until the AC (despite their compensation being almost half of what their competitors offer - I suppose continuously shrinking profits could be the cause).
The AC was two group exercises - one logic and one business case type. As with all group exercises there was a lot of shouting over each other and talking for the sake of talking without contributing useful ideas. As an older and more experienced hire I found it amusing but played along.
Then we sat for over an hour in a freezing room where the recruitment team tried entertaining us. Unfortunately, one projector was broken and the other one was showing only a fuzzy purple shadow so we watched some marketing videos on an ancient thinkpad laptop (surely a tech company would have better resources). Finally, I was summoned for an interview with a manager. Disappointingly, the interview was only 25 min long with standard questions.
After the interview I received a call that I wasn't offered a position and that the feedback will come soon afterwards. The feedback was not constructive in any shape or form - the skills were given generic ratings with no justification as above average, acceptable, unsatisfactory, non-existent with interviewers not making up their minds and giving me both above average and non evident for the same skill.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Very standard "top 20 questions asked in an interview process"
In my IBM interview, I was given a simple market entry case. I clarified the objective, structured my approach, analyzed market size and competition, then summarized a concise recommendation overall.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
In my IBM interview, I was given a simple market entry case. I clarified the objective, structured my approach, analyzed market size and competition, then summarized a concise recommendation overall.
Process really depends team to team and there is no one standard process for the role. some will give you cases, others can be more situational or focus on your resume specific bullet points
I interviewed for a position at the Taipei office, and unfortunately, the online interview raised several red flags. First, the HR representative contacted me to ask for my availability and instructed me to prepare a PowerPoint slide about myself. I responded with my available time and asked whether the slide should be in Chinese or English.
Red flag #1: She replied only to confirm the meeting time and completely ignored my question.
After a week with no response, I followed up with both HR and the interviewer.
Red flag #2: Neither of them replied.
On the day of the interview,
Red flag #3: The interviewer’s webcam was off, which made the interaction feel unprofessional.
Red flag #4: After the interview, I sent a thank-you email. I did receive a reply, but it contained several grammatical errors.
During the interview, I answered most of the questions in English and used Chinese for more casual conversation. However, I got the impression that they didn’t fully understand what I was saying, possibly due to their limited English proficiency.
Overall, it felt like no one was handling their responsibilities professionally. It’s disappointing that a company as large and well-known as IBM came across as disorganized and unprepared—more like a startup that doesn’t know what it’s doing.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
tell me about yourself and how you handle uncertainties