National Research Group Interview Questions
& Process

My interview with NRG was not great. First, I talked to a recruiter for about 30 mins, just normal questions about my experience and if I liked to travel or manage people. Then I had calls with two people on the team which were super rigid and they just blasted me with questions, I barely had time to ask anything. They seemed more focused on getting through their list than actually hearing me. One of them said they usually work 9-10 hours a day, and up to 12-14 during busy times, which made me wonder about work-life balance, especially working remotely. They gave me a task where I had to watch focus group clips, summarize findings for a client, and outline a discussion guide. The last interview with senior leadership was the same, too many questions, no real chat. They asked about my assessment, but their expectations were weirdly different from the instructions. They wanted a full guide when the instructions said just an outline. It felt like they weren't listening when I talked, and I got interrupted a lot. They also asked hypothetical questions without enough info to answer well. The whole thing took like 5-6 weeks, and I started doubting if they were being honest about work, hours, and travel. The job said 10% travel, but it seemed like way more, maybe 30-40%. They were also super slow to get back to me about the decision, I had to chase them after three weeks even though they said I'd hear back in a week. Honestly, it's probably a good thing I didn't get the job, given how the process felt so shady and disorganized.

There was a 45-minute call with a recruiter. It felt more like an interrogation than a conversation, with a lot of questions. By the time they were done, there was only 1 minute left. They interrupted me mid-sentence to move on. They probed for more info when I answered concisely and it was hard to tell if they were listening when I was elaborate. The call structure was odd and felt like they just wanted to get through questions rather than listen or be conversational. I asked a couple of questions, but based on how it went and their responses, I withdrew my application.

I applied online and a week later, a recruiter reached out to schedule a phone interview for the following week. The recruiter call lasted an hour and covered both basic and behavioral questions. I really enjoyed the conversation with the recruiter. A week after that, I was invited for another interview with the Manager and Senior Manager, which took place about a month after my initial application. This second interview was 1.5 hours long. First, I spoke with the Manager for 45 minutes, focusing on job qualifications. Then, I spoke with the Senior Manager for another 45 minutes, covering some similar questions as well as inquiries about management style. Although I liked everything about the company, I did not receive an offer. They informed me of their decision two days later, stating I was not selected. I plan to reapply in the future.

I interviewed for this position in early 2022 and was super excited because the first 2 rounds went great. However, it took over a month just for those rounds, and I had to create a 20-page PowerPoint based on a 2-minute YouTube video about a movie. Everything was going well until the third interview with three women who were really rude the whole time. I presented a variety of ideas and plans, and while I understand ideas can be shut down, I was ridiculed, and one of them even laughed. The third interview was a complete disaster, and the whole process took over two months just to get denied and have my self-confidence crushed by three rude individuals. No interview process should take this long. I've since learned that two people I knew who worked there no longer do. I'd read about the environment being toxic and now I see why. It was an overly long interview process with rude interviewers and just a bunch of BS. Even with all this, I sent a follow-up thank you on LinkedIn, which was ignored!