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      McMaster-Carr

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      Market Research Analyst/Business Operations Specialist Interview

      May 13, 2012
      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      Santa Fe Springs, Los Angeles, CA
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at McMaster-Carr (Santa Fe Springs, Los Angeles, CA) in Mar 2012

      Interview

      The techniques this company utilized to select interview candidates in my honest opinion are deceptive. As others have pointed out it really does appear to be a bait-and-switch operation. My main take-away: interview only if you’re bored and/or need interviewing experience for the job you really want. So here’s my take based on my experience. A recruiter contacted me after applying for a Market Research Analyst position. The recruiter asked if I wouldn’t mind being considered for another position, a position with a fancy title that she described in lofty terms but remained ambiguous. I nevertheless agreed. Actually both job descriptions were vague. The recruiter was nice, marveled at my credentials and experience, and preceded to conduct a phone interview. I was taken off guard by the interview as companies usually call to set one up without jumping right into it but whatever, I went along. The phone interview was basic, a walk-thru of my resume and one or two situational-type questions “describe a time when…” I received a call-back the following day for an office interview. Upon arriving I filled out a paper application and a short writing exam (finding typos, grammatical errors, etc). I then interviewed with the recruiter, once again a few situational type questions. The office atmosphere, around the lobby, was cheerful. People walked around talking, slightly different impression then what others here have described. However, once inside the “call center” (more about that in a bit) the atmosphere was much different. There was no milling around, no bantering, everyone sat in their cubicle and worked. I observed a Market Research Analyst who explained her job to me. I then observed a “Business Operations Specialist” working in what I can only describe as a call center. BEWARE, the latter is merely fancy speak for “customer service representative”. Yep, a bunch of young, smart people taking phone orders and complaints ALL.DAY.LONG. I then had two more interviews with people who failed to even tell me their titles or what they did at the company (I guess it was my job to find out???). They both asked similar situational type questions (so repetitive!) and then I took two more short and simple tests that made it 100% obvious that the position they were filling was for customer service rep…er…Business Operations Specialist ;) BTW, the first recruiter who spoke to me on the phone raved at the upward mobility available in the company and the expectation to move forward and move around – LIE. The two other interviewers quashed such a notion and told me bluntly that they wanted to be “100% honest” - upward mobility did not happen. Given all the comments I’ve read here it’s obvious that it doesn’t. They surprised me in their bluntness given 1) that they contradicted the first recruiter and 2) I do hold a graduate degree from a prestigious university. I guess they really do pick & choose a person’s “career” track based on some criteria that they don’t disclose. In my opinion, it was all so strange. In short, they pay a good salary to incredibly smart people to simply answer phones with no chance of climbing the ladder. I guess if you’re looking for a company to pay your education or for something to do while you find somewhere to actually use your brain this is the perfect company. My biggest pet peeve is how they pushed the customer service rep role on me. Moreover, they tried to use every synonym in the book to hide the simplicity of the role – answer phones, talk to customers, take orders, handle complaints, go on to the next call. Sorry, but I didn’t sign up to work in a call center (no offense). They could have saved themselves (and me!!!) a lot of time and effort by being straightforward during the phone interview.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      Describe a problem you identified, made a recommendation, and your recommendation was implemented.
      Answer question
      6