I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at IBM in Aug 2010
Interview
Responded to agency job advert on jobsite web page, sent them cv with a cover letter online, got a phone call later on in day from agency stating they'd liked my cv and sent it to IBM for review.
Got phone call from agency abotu a week later asking for availability for phone interview...phone interview took place about a week later, was very technical, questions about specific software and techonologies ( websphere, MQ, windows, unix ) . Did okay, was told they'd arrange a 1-1 interview...took another week, went to South Bank offices, was a 3-1 with one techie ( same one who phone interview me ) , my potential manager and a HR type. Some more technical questions then a wlkthrough of my CV followed by loads of "what would you do" & "describe a situation where" from the manager - lasted just over an hour. In the end I was told there and then they would offer me the job and then HR bod went into pay and package. As job was advertised with pay at £45k - £55k, I asked for £55k as I had all experience and skills they were looking for already. Luckily they settled for that.
Got an official letter of employment about 2 weeks later ( had to chase them up a couple of times though )
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
what would you do if you walked into a hostile environment and didn't speak the laguage ?
I applied online. The process took 5 days. I interviewed at IBM (London, England) in May 2010
Interview
Interview was straightforward except for one sticking point. A friend who interviewed for a similar position in Australia reported precisely the same experience and the same irritation.
In the interview, a scenario was pitched in which an arbitrary question requires a numerical answer. You will have to "guess" a whole bunch of input data and then predict an answer.
If your first instinct is to build a simple mathematical model to reduce the number of arbitrary guess-numbers you need to use you will be "wrong". This will not be explained to you but you may be told afterwards that you need to guess the entirety, i.e. simply start throwing random numbers down on a piece of paper and work out a single-use answer. The question will usually be something where you could get the answer off the internet in 5 seconds.
It's a useless scenario and entirely contrary to the way an experienced analyst should work but there you have it. Welcome to IBM.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
You want to convert motor license fees to a fuel tax only. By what percentage should you increase the fuel tax?