Bridgewater Associates Business Support Associate interview questions

I went through a recruiter. After they okay-ed my resume, I had to take several online personality tests and watch videos about the company's culture. They made us sign an NDA before we could even go there. The interview process was at least 6 hours long and seemed more focused on whether you would immediately fit into the culture and not whether you could eventually adapt and stick it out long term. It's telling that about 50% of hires are gone with a year or two. There were 4 different 'stations' if you will, with a different activity and number of interviewers in each. Nothing was particularly difficult but you'll understand why the word 'cult' is used to describe this place after you're finished. Our group of 8 interviewees clearly bombed the group discussion at the end and got chewed out by several of their employees. None of us really understood the point because the directions were so outside the box and I don't think anyone got what they were supposed to be getting out of watching us do this activity. Apparently they didn't actually want us to discuss the topic, they actually wanted us to discuss how we would discuss the topic. They just wanted to watch us plan how we were going to arrive at a conclusion. The instructions were clear when we looked back but the whole experience was just bizarre. With that said, they didn't need to be so incredibly rude about it. Out of the 15-20 current associates I met while interviewing, there were maybe 2 or 3 that I didn't find obnoxious, arrogant or haughty. If it works for them, then that's good but despite all their talk of openness and meritocracy, it seems more theory than practice. The company is clearly very successful (monetarily speaking) but I detected a weird undercurrent of discontent and general exhaustion in pretty much all the employees I met. The recent allegations against them (NYT article) make total sense given my experience there.

Fairly long process, received a message from a recruiter, recruiter then did his/her thing and got me an interview at BW a few weeks later after I took an online personality test. Interview at Bridgewater lasted all day and was fairly easy going. Discussion/Case Study/Regular interview. Basically there is no prep you can do - if you are a good fit you'll make it. If not, you'll know fairly quickly.