This was just a phone screen, but the worst I've had in a long time......the interviewer called and said "hi is this xx" and that was it, no follow up question like "how are you?" A bit awkward to begin with (not to mention that I applied for one job but they interviewed me for another, but couldn't tell me why). I have over 10 yrs of operations and analysis experience so thought we'd go directly into a conversation-type mode, but they asked questions more suited for someone 1-2yrs out of school.
I was especially thrown off by the "name something you are proud of" question, because most of my big professional accomplishments were done under a lot of stress and mild sleep deprivation and during periods of a lot of overtime, so I wasn't analyzing them in a way to say "wow I am proud of that." If they had asked more pointed questions such as "what is the biggest project you ever managed" or "have you ever saved a customer who wanted to leave you" I would have had better answers. I think it is more important to ask candidates about what they actually did vs. their analysis of what they did. I tend to downgrade my accomplishments in my head, other people with the same experience may be claiming they are gurus. For example, I say I am advanced in PowerPoint even though many people with the same skill set would say they are experts in it. I just don't like to overstate things.
It also annoyed me a bit that they closed the call with "tell me what AppNexus does," only because 10 minutes earlier, I had tried to describe it, and asked a few follow up questions which the interviewer didn't answer. With all due respect AppNexus, your website is filled with generalities and some jargon, I watched and read a lot, and no one piece gets to the crux of how your system operates and what it does, so not having a great answer about what you do doesn't mean the candidate didn't prepare!
I guess my advice to other candidates is to be prepared to lead the conversation and be prepared to answer vague questions with specific answers. On a positive note, at least the interviewer had at least some questions to ask, I'm definitely seeing a trend of hiring managers trying to wing interviews, which is really hard to navigate.......