William & Mary Interview Questions
& Process

Had a quick 15-minute call to get acquainted, then a full team interview that was supposed to be 30 minutes but ran a bit over, like 38 minutes. They gave me their operational plan ahead of time and then asked for my thoughts on how to make it better. The interview started with them asking about my background and why I'd be a good fit.

I had one Zoom interview with a panel for this fully remote role, and they gave us the questions beforehand. Unfortunately, they used the same link for all candidates and didn't have a waiting room, so another person joined the call. Then, I was asked for a second interview in person. They also sent the questions ahead of time and had a full schedule for the day. The people were nice, but the panel went off-topic a few times. I also noticed the hiring manager and department head mentioned wanting someone to do tasks outside the job description. I was bummed W&M made candidates pay for flights to the interview. I got an offer and felt I had to accept until reimbursed, which took about 3.5 weeks. I eventually turned it down because they still wanted me to pay for travel to the College even though it was remote, and they didn't provide a computer.

I applied on November 30th online. Got a call on Feb 11th for a 30-min phone interview on Feb 18th. Then, on Feb 19th, they called me for an in-person interview on campus for Feb 29th. They initially wanted me to cover travel costs, but I pushed back, and they agreed to reimburse me. I drove and stayed in a cheap hotel. Before the campus interview, I had to complete a law school exam with four questions. This included analyzing their policies (which they didn't provide) and writing out a full witness interview for a real case. The answer was about 8 single-spaced pages. The campus interview day was packed. It's April 11th now, and I still haven't seen reimbursement, and I just found out I didn't get the job. Honestly, it felt like a ridiculous obstacle course, and I think they should pay for time spent on assignments that are basically work for them.

The interview process is a bit arduous. The first interview was via phone with 3 people on the other end. Mostly this interview was to determine my technical skills and experience. While it was slightly overwhelming, everyone I interviewed with was very friendly and had a great sense of humor. Having passed the first round interview, I was given a simple programming challenge to complete in the next 7 days. The programming assignment was somewhat complex but I was able to complete the assignment in a few hours. Having passed the programming assignment, I had a second interview, in person this time, which took most of a day. First there was a panel interview with 8 panel members, 3 of whom had been on the phone interview. The panel was made up of people with whom I would work on a regular basis. This interview did delve into my technical skills to some extent, but was more focused on my personality and how well I meshed with the team. The panel interview lasted an hour and a half. After the panel interview, I was given a tour of the facility and introduced to staff members in various departments. With the tour completed I had an opportunity to ask questions of the supervisor for the advertised position and the supervisor of the department. Finally, I was taken to lunch at a fairly nice restaurant and had a lunch with many of the department heads. There were some questions, but largely this was to determine my cultural fit.