I was initially contacted by a sourcer and had a 30-minute introductory call. After that, I was passed to a recruiter and then interviewed with the hiring manager. I thought the conversation with the hiring manager was thoughtful and professional, and I left that discussion feeling genuinely excited about the role. Unfortunately, everything surrounding the recruiting process was the opposite. My first interaction with the recruiter was extremely disappointing. She was unfriendly, asked almost nothing about my background, and instead asked one canned question before spending most of the call walking through administrative forms and logistics. For a senior-level role, the interaction felt disengaged and transactional. Gartner also requires candidates to review a large amount of material ahead of interviews. I spent several hours preparing and reviewing the content they sent. Investing time like that is completely reasonable when a company runs a professional process. In this case, the experience did not reflect that level of professionalism. Candidates are not given the hiring manager’s email, which means you cannot even send a simple thank you note directly. I had to forward my note to the recruiter and ask her to pass it along. She never responded. Over the next week I followed up twice with no response. Then, a full week later in the middle of the night, I received an automated rejection email from their HR system. That was the first communication I had received since the interview. Ironically, the same recruiter who had ignored my three emails immediately responded once I forwarded the rejection notice and asked for feedback. She said she had been “very busy” and then provided what was clearly a generic, copy-and-paste response that looked like it came straight from ChatGPT. During the process I had also come across several forums and reviews where candidates described experiencing this exact same pattern of behavior from Gartner’s recruiting team: poor communication, impersonal interactions, and complete disregard for candidates’ time. I tried to give the company the benefit of the doubt and assumed those experiences were outliers. Unfortunately, my experience was exactly the same. This was easily the most unprofessional and disrespectful interview process I have experienced. What makes it especially disappointing is that I had long respected Gartner as an organization and as a source of business insight. That perception changed significantly after seeing firsthand how candidates are treated. After this experience, I would not consider working for the company in the future, and I would not recommend others pursue opportunities there or purchase their content.

Don't do it. Lots of time required. I spent at least 40 hours on this. They guide you through it but there is a research assignment and then a presentation. I had at least six meetings with them and a lot of time away from my current job and family. I didn't get an offer which was just fine by me, but email rejections are not acceptable. Their compensation is 50% below market rate. They didn't have any idea that interviews are a two way street and you could tell. They didn't allow time for me to ask my questions questions and they bombed the two I asked - badly. Then they cut me off to end the interview. The research question they provided me did not align with what they wanted. I provided what they very clearly asked for and then gave me feedback to change it, and probably docked my score.bThe samples they provided me for research that they had published - both published by interviewers - were embarrassing and I chewed them apart when I read through them. When I read one of them I marked it up with a lot of red because I thought maybe one of the exercises was to evaluate what looked like an early draft, not a published paper. I estimate that as much as 50% of their business will be replaced by AI in the next decade. They are the Yellow Pages in 1998. The only thing that made the process difficult was the required time and that the interview questions centered around the part of the research topic that I have not spent the last 15 years doing. I should add that it was all smiles and niceties. They were pleasant people for the most part. Anyway I think you get the drift. If anyone at Gartner is reading this, you need to do better. I would have told you in person but I didn't get a call so now it's here for the world to see. Your candidates might also be customers.

A sample written response as a first step, then a recruiter conversation, chat with HM, then team members, lastly a written project to complete and present to a panel of four or five people.