I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Andersen (Irvine, CA)
Interview
First I applied online but quickly got a rejection email.
Then I applied again, but this time had an internal referral send my resume. Within a week I got an email with the Chicago recruiter to set up a phone interview with her.
Me and the recruiter had a phone interview which lasted about 20 minutes. She forwarded my file to the LA recruiter. The LA recruiter then emailed me a few days later with a time and date to have a phone screening interview with a director in the OC office.
The phone screening interview with the director lasted about 30 minutes and went well.
A few days after that the LA recruiter emails me the time and date for my in-person interview. The interview lasted 3 hours. First I was in the conference room with a director, then I had a 40 minute coffee session with two associates, then I returned to the conference room to speak with the managing director.
My interview was in December around the holidays when a lot of people are out of the office so it took a few weeks before getting my final result.
The whole process from sending my first application to getting the result was about 3 months long.
Through the whole process everyone I spoke to was very friendly. They just want to gauge your interest and your ability to handle a tough schedule during the busy seasons (this came up a lot).
*HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS PREPARED AHEAD OF TIME BECAUSE YOU WILL BE THERE A LONG TIME AND YOU NEED TO HAVE TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT. ESPECIALLY IN THE COFFEE SESSION THEY RELY ON YOU TO ASK THE QUESTIONS AND YOU HAVE TO AVOID AWKWARD SILENCES. EVEN IN THE NORMAL INTERVIEW PART THEY FREQUENTLY JUST SAY: "SO WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE?"
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
-Why Andersen?
-Are you aware the position is mostly doing tax compliance work?
-What kind of hours are you used to?
-What kind of work environment do you like?
-How do you handle stressful situations?
-During the coffee session they expect you to ask most of the questions, which they answer and leads to conversation.
I applied online. I interviewed at Andersen (Atlanta, GA)
Interview
First interview with HR, mostly getting to know you and confirming some resume things. The next two are with partners/managers, and the questions were more typical behavioral interview style. It was overall very seamless and not as rigid and impersonal as big 4 interviews which I appreciated. There was definitely a heavy emphasis on me asking questions to them as well.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What skills and interests do you think you can bring to the office that will make a difference to our team?
It was over zoom , met with 3 members of the team ranging from manger to partner. Questions were technical to behavioral. There was a follow up interview after that brief.
First with phone interview around 30 minutes, mostly about behavioral questions. Second round interview with manager by zoom, takes around 1.5 hour. They are really nice overall and patient while answering questions.