I recruited at an MBA conference in September, and completed my round one interview over the phone in October, and a week later received an invitation to do a final round interview in Minneapolis. Along with this invite, they sent an online assessment that included a personality assessment and a quantitative portion. For the final round of interviews, Mills flew me out on a Thursday for a dinner with a current AMM. This dinner is not with a decision maker but an opportunity to speak 1:1 with a first year AMM and ask all of your questions. Friday was interview day on campus from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. including breakfast with an AMM, 75min case prep, lunch with an AMM, campus tour, 30-minute presentation of the case, and two 30-minute behavioral interviews. Please note that you are interviewing Mills as much as they are interviewing you. That said, each meal is 1:1 so be prepared to drive the conversation. Ask good questions about Mills, Minneapolis, and your hosts experience and share about yourselves. The experience was great. GMI Talent Acquisition facilitated each part of the onsite interview from my flight and hotel, to day of logistics. When I checked into my hotel, they provided me a Mills goodie bag which was a nice touch. Additionally, each piece of the day seemed very intentional. ie. My meals were with AMMs with whom I had things in common, be it a school or other affiliation. The interviewers were tough with some challenging follow-up questions but very fair. Overall the experience was very positive.

I applied through the National Black MBA portal as an experienced hire (1-5 years post MBA experience). Shortly after applying I received an email to fill out the application online, then a few days later I got a phone call to set up a phone interview. The phone interview was with a marketing manager and we just cut to the chase. There were no softball questions like "why general mills" or "what's your favorite general mills brand"? Instead was asked a marketing case question as well as some behavioral questions ("Tell me about a time you were given a goal that seemed unachievable, and how did you approach it.") and some marketing specific questions ("tell me about 3 current trends in CPG"). I must've done well enough in that phone interview as I got invited to the on-site interview a few weeks later. The onsite interview is pretty consistent with what everyone else said: 75 minutes to prepare a marketing case with slides followed by 3 behavioral interviews with different managers, one of which asks you to present your case from the morning. The people were really nice, but I got asked some questions I didn't prepare for ("If you could be a part of a food start up company, what would it be and why.) The day finished with lunch with an AAM, got a goody bag and was on my way. This experience is different if you're going for AAM right out of b-school - since that's more cyclical, they bring many candidates to HQ for a Super Day. I've read about dinner the night before, breakfast the morning of, and a tour, but my day was basically 8:15AM -1:00PM. Now, the reason I gave this a negative experience was that based on my resume, it's evident that I don't have any CPG experience. After the interviews, I was called and told that the team thought I fit best as a 2nd year AAM, upon further review, there wasn't any headcount for a 2nd year AAM. My attitude towards interviewing, is if you're interviewing, the spot is yours to lose. I prepped a ton for this, as it's a company I really wanted to work for and felt like I did well, which apparently I did, but unfortunately I spent all that time to interview for a position that didn't exist for my given skill level. Live and learn.

The overall process was fast and transparent. My first contact with a member of the General Mills team was within four hours of submitting my application. The entire process from the first phone interview to receiving an offer followed a timeline that was clearly communicated and moved quicker than any company I've ever interviewed with. The final interview or 'super day' was the most intense interview experience I've ever had. There is a case study presentation followed by three one on one's. It's a long day and you leave emotionally exhausted but it is well structured and it made me want to work for General Mills even more than I did before.