Ipsos Researcher Interview Questions
& Process

I interviewed with the HR person and CEO of Ipsos Japan in Japanese at a Career Fair in Tokyo. It lasted about 30 minutes. They asked me questions about myself, my student experience (since it's an entry-level job), and why I want to work there.

There were about three or four interviews total. It started with an intro call, then a competence-based interview. After that, I met with the line manager, and the final interview was with the director of the department. They were looking for specific examples from my past experiences.

I found the second interview very upsetting. I’m going to be a stereotypical sore loser, however, I Am extremely disappointed with being told ‘we don’t take because you didn’t seem interested’. I don’t mind so much being rejected on merits- eg you haven’t done test properly, or didn’t answer questions where was only one correct answer. I would be annoyed with myself though, it with the company. However, one of the managers who interviewed me seemed to troll me: for example, when he asked me a question, I gave a reply, and he tells me: ‘so you are saying’... and cites exactly the opposite of what I have just said. And it happened a few times during the interview. I’m not sure whether he was trolling me, took a dislike, or genuinely didn’t understand. I’m inclined to think the first one though. Also, when the feedback is something like ‘you didn’t seem to be interested’ is particularly annoying. Hello, I have just paid over a hundred pounds to come to the interview ( and I’m not employed), how nice of you to say things like that, please, have some respect to the money being spent, if not for me. Anyway, although I was very keen on the role, if they thought I wasn’t, it could have been easily established by phone/ video link. There was no need to drag unemployed person all the way to London. To summarise: if you are not based in London, and coming to the interview, find something else to do there.