Farmers Insurance Group Liability Claim Representative interview questions

1) Submit application online, take personality test 2) Receive offer of test 3) Take basic skills knowledge test (quite easy) 4) Receive offer of interview 5) Go through interview with two managers 6) Do a 'desk ride' with a claims rep for an hour or so 7) Receive offer of second interview 8) Go through second interview 9) Background check 10) Receive notice of job offer or decline to offer 11) Drug test

Straight forward. I applied online. About a week later, the HR recruiter called to say he would be emailing me a link to an aptitude test. Completed the test. It consisted of three parts: language, basic logic and practical math. Be warned, the sections are timed! After completing the test, the recruiter called within the hour and we did a phone interview. I was asked about my education and professional experience, along with 3 behavioral based interview questions. After the last question, the recruiter advised he would be recommending me to the hiring manager and to expect a call for a face-to-face interview. A supervisor called the following morning and scheduled the in-person interview with me. The in-person interview consisted of two supervisors and a manager. It started with the standard "Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you want to work for Farmers." From there, there were 6 behavioral based interview questions, each focused on a single core competency that the company believes to be essential for success in the position. This was followed by a battery of 6 questions designed to test technical claims expertise. These also had to be answered in a behavioral based format. Lastly, I spent 10 to 15 minutes asking questions of my own, mostly about the company's culture. The job offer and salary negotiation followed the next day. In the insurance industry, all the big name companies use behavioral based interviewing. It can be a very frustrating or very easy interview experience. You *absolutely* MUST prepare for a behavioral based interview. If you do not come into the interview with at least TEN memorized examples that can be tweeked to fit the various questions you will be asked, you will not get past it. A typical example of a behavioral based interview question is: "Tell me about a time you made a mistake and what you did to fix it." Your response must be specific and contain three distinct elements: 1. SET THE STAGE ("Well, there was this one time an attorney sent me a very important email with a time demand in it and I overlooked it in my inbox..."); 2. WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT IT ("When I realized what had happened, I called the attorney, apologized for blowing the time demand, and asked him for a five day extension so I could review the specials..."); 3. THE OUTCOME ("The attorney was really happy that I called him to discuss what had happened and he said he'd be faxing over the extension. It really solidified our working relationship and should help me amicably settle other BI's with him in the future..."). If you take this three step approach to every behavioral based question you're asked and provide specific details, regardless of company, you will have an excellent interview and will remain a strong candidate in the eyes of the interviewers. Hope this helps and good interviewing! (PS, I noticed that if Farmers likes you, they move very fast. The whole process from aptitude test to offer was no more than 4 business days.)