zeb.rolfes.schierenbeck.associates Interview Questions
& Process

After an assessment center, there were 3 follow-up interviews with a Manager, Senior Manager, and Partner. The assessment center itself was a bit slow and not very related to the actual job. The first two interviews involved a case study. The last interview was more focused on personal questions.

The interview process was quite disappointing. It started directly with two back-to-back interviews, both covering Personal Fit and a Case Study. The first part felt good, with a friendly and interested interviewer and a decent case study. However, the second interview was much less pleasant. The interviewer immediately made me feel inadequate and asked overly detailed questions about a model I used during my internship. Instead of personal fit questions, it was all technical, and for no clear reason, they questioned my programming ability. When I struggled for a German word, they seemed to mock me rather than help. I expected feedback within a day, but got a brief call after three days saying, 'You weren't good enough,' with no pleasantries. It felt very unfriendly, and I knew during the interview it wasn't a place I wanted to work.

We had a few chats with my future colleagues and managers. It was a pretty smooth process, super clear and we all worked together well. They laid out the steps beforehand, which was nice. Communication was easy and direct. Everything felt well-paced, and I got some good feedback along the way.

The interview atmosphere was polite, but I felt like my interviewer wanted to point out the weaknesses in my education. Most of the interview consisted of 'rote learning' questions. I answered these with the technical terms I knew (some in English). Then, the interviewer would launch into long monologues, answering her own questions and emphasizing that I hadn't used the 'correct' technical terms. My speaking time was very limited (about 30%). The case study wasn't really a case study. I was shown a PDF with a 'case' via screen sharing, which I was supposed to read and solve myself. Before I could start, I had some questions. After asking them, the interviewer began another monologue where she basically solved the case herself. I couldn't contribute much to the solution. The interview was very disappointing because I didn't feel I could demonstrate my actual skills, and there was no interest in getting to know me as a person.