The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at ZS Associates (Evanston, IL) in May 2011
Interview
First two rounds were phone call. One was behavioral type questions like "Tell me a about time when you felt caught between conflicting objectives", Go over Resume, Why ZS etc. The second one was data crunching. I was given a tables, charts with some information as asked questions on that. Brush up your calculating skills.
Final round was in the ZS office- 1 past project experience with a principal where I had explain my PhD thesis to him. Second was behavioral with a Principal. Finally they gave me a lot of material about a company and asked me to prepare a presentation with a group advising the company based on the information provided. The panel was fair and easy on me. It was a little intimidating in the begining, but just manage your time well and be organized in your approach.
-Very friendly people overall and pleasant experience
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me a time when you had to work on a project with a tight deadline
Went through the typical HR call in the initial stage; I felt that the interviewer was disinterested, but still proceeded to mention that the team will schedule an interview with me by end of the week.
I followed up a week after when they initially mentioned I can anticipate to hear back from the team. The process entailed 2 stages, with the initial stage online, and the second stage in person.
Interview comprised of 5 rounds,
1) HR phone screen for role alignment
2)Technical discussion with Senior Consultant (tools, data engineering/SQL)
3)Hiring Manager round (technical + behavioral)
4)Project presentation on an end-to-end pipeline (with Senior Manager & Associate Principal)
5) Final discussion with Principal
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about the project you worked on where you created an end-to-end data pipeline
It was very streamlined and structured. Three rounds and the first round was the most difficult one, this was followed by a case study and two rounds testing my technical capability followed by a fitment round.