1. Application
2. Video Interview
- Fairly easy, ask about general motivations for the role and interests.
3. Telephone Interview
- Not too difficult, interviewer was friendly and relaxed. Talked about motivations for the role, why GLG, what their business model is, competency based questions, what sets them aside from their competitors. Lasted around 30 minutes.
4. Assessment day at their London office
- First round interview: mine was with the same woman that conducted my telephone interview, so it was comfortable and relaxed. She asked more questions about my motivations and interests in the role, as well as some more competency based questions.
- Roleplay exercise: You are given a situation with a client who is requesting information and you are told you need to phone an expert who you think is suitable for this query and convince them to join the council membership. This exercise can be difficult and I would recommend preparing a basic script before hand that you can amend as the interviewer will ask you questions during the phone call that you cannot really prepare for. Not sure why they expect you to know how to do this before starting the job. I had prepared for this exercise as I had seen it come up in all the reviews, but the questions that came up were still difficult to answer. Regardless, I would say this part of the interview was still a positive experience.
- Case study exercise: Now here's where it started going downhill. Keep in mind that throughout this whole process from the submission of my application, their replies took extremely long and were inconsistent. They seemed very disorganised and this was frustrating to work with. Anyway, I was told beforehand that the case study exercise would include a value chain exercise. During this stage, you are given a client problem, industry, and product. You are first asked to describe the value chain of the product (for which I would recommend using Porter's model), and then based on the client scenario you are given, identify which experts they should be connected with to answer their specific questions.
While the case study itself was interesting, challenging, and enjoyable, the member of staff that conducted the interview was rude and arrogant. This is not an uncommon review for GLG. I had read multiple reviews sharing the exact same experience of rude interviewers but chose not to believe it and proceed with the application process. However, these reviews proved to be accurate when the interviewer seemed to be interested in nothing but rubbing her authority and experience in my face. She gave off a very competitive, insecure, and unprofessional vibe. It makes an interview a lot more difficult than it already is when your interviewer behaves in this manner. It honestly made me wonder if I still wanted the position, considering her role would mean that I would probably work directly with her on a daily basis.
