Corporate Insight Research Associate Interview Questions
& Process

Applied online and had a first 30-minute chat. Then, a week later, I got a 2-hour writing test where I had to compare two web pages and write a report using a writing sample they gave. After that, I had a 3-hour back-to-back interview in-person with four different people, which felt super long and repetitive. They just went through a list of questions, making it feel really formal and not very conversational. A week after that, I met with another team member for 30 minutes. Then they did reference and background checks, followed by a final 30-minute interview with a VP about two weeks later. The whole thing took about 2 months, which felt way too long and drawn out for an entry-level gig. Honestly, meeting seven people plus doing an exercise seemed unnecessary.

I applied online and had an initial phone call. Then I was invited for an in-person interview a week or two later. During that interview, I spoke with a senior associate and a director, both of whom were very nice. After that, I completed a writing assignment in the office before leaving. The assignment involved analyzing a financial company's website and evaluating it from a user's perspective. Following that, I had another in-person interview where I met with three people: two junior senior associates and a VP. The overall interview experience was quite relaxed; most discussions were informal and didn't seem to have strict right or wrong answers. However, they did tend to ask similar questions, and repeating the same responses repeatedly felt a bit repetitive. They were very respectful regarding scheduling and appeared to be well-organized.

I first had a phone interview with a Senior Associate, who explained the job, which involved comparing overall changes to websites over time, focusing on UI and UX changes from week to week. He was polite and honest. The second step was an in-person meeting with two research team members. They asked different questions, and the first researcher was more engaging. Afterwards, there was a writing test where I had to compare website look changes based on an example report. For the second part, I compared two banking sites and stated my preference. I was told to use my own writing style for this. The process ended there.