I was reached by the recruiter from Gartner for an open position that was long unfulfilled. It was for a very interesting position to research the trends within a specific service line, present analysis and generate interest within a specific target group to understand, adopt these ideas. I had a first interview with the recruiter where he asked my views and experiences on specific technologies. On clearing that, the further steps in the interview process where explained, 1. An interview with the reporting manager for an hour, 2. 5 - 7 meetings with peers of the research director and his manager, expected to be around 45 minutes to an hour 3. Write a research paper in Gartner office for 2 hours on any of the 3 topics( and sub topics) shared week earlier. Actual topic would be given in the venue along with a template on their expectations. A loaner laptop with MS Office - no internet or reference material. 4. Final panel interview for an hour with 5 - 7 members including the hiring manager, immediately after the writing exercise. I had NEVER experienced such an exhaustive interview process before, had no idea how it was going to be. Actual process: The first set of interviews were very interesting as we discussed various trends. All the interactions were very cordial. As we went through the same set of questions for hours with different folks, it became very monotonous and stressful. I am currently managing multiple large projects and this process became just an agenda in my calendar. Moreover, most of the panel were in US, so the meetings had to be arranged late evening after a very long day. I felt losing the excitement of this role around the 5th meeting. However, the feedback I received on the interviews were VERY positive. The final round was the most challenging, Arrangement at Gartner office was bit rusty as the recruiter was in the UK and had to coordinate with his European colleagues for a laptop, right questions to be passed on to me and a template with the structure. I also had issues dialing into a Webex with the panel. The panel had 6 people across the globe, who took turns to ask questions on the paper. Excluding my preparations, travel, meeting planning - I spent 10 hours in interview with Gartner over a period of 2.5 months.

The recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn. I scheduled a 30-minute meeting with them. The recruitment gave me an extension description of the job position. I was told that I had excellent research experience, but lacked business acumen. The recruiter was very transparent and communicated to me that for the position I was applying for, this was a red flag. They were looking for someone with experience working with C-level executives.