I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Cornerstone Research in Feb 2025
Interview
Applied online. First round was two cases with two associates. Second was a flyout with four cases, a seminar talk, and lunch with two associates.
As a non-white woman, being interviewed here felt like I was the victim of a practical joke. Wasn’t taken seriously during my seminar talk and fielded many crude jokes and hostile questions while trying to remain gracious. Not sure if the antagonism came from my racial or gender identity or their perceptions of my credentials but whatever the reason, the ambushing and belittling seemed welcomed and encouraged. The analysts who attended however, were ironically the most polite and respectful.
I have interviewed at other litigation consultings firms where my experience presenting could not have been more different so I am hopeful this is not an industry wide issue. Aside from the seminar, I will concede that the my one-on-one interviews here were professional and engaging. I likely was not a good cultural fit at Cornerstone but am hopeful that in the future, women and minority interviewees receive better treatment than I did.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why Cornerstone? Tell us about your job market paper.
I interviewed at Cornerstone Research (New York, NY)
Interview
The first interview was via Zoom, and the second (final) interview was on-site. The first interview consisted of two sessions with different associates. Each session lasted about 30 minutes. The second interview had the same format but just had more sessions throughout the day. I was asked how to go about defending clients' cases given some descriptions of the cases.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Cornerstone Research (New York, NY) in Nov 2025
Interview
I was invited for the first round of the selection process. This involved two one-on-one interviews, each 45 minutes long. There were two types of questions. One about my research and the other was a case study. In both, successive questions built up on previous questions.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Cornerstone Research (Chicago, IL) in May 2025
Interview
There was first a chat with the interviewers with getting to know you questions, and then a case study based on real cases- you need to know your antitrust, merger and industrial organization knowledge.
Associate applicants have rated the interview process at Cornerstone Research with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 58% positive. To compare, the company-average is 69.2% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Associate roles take an average of 24 days to get hired, when considering 66 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Cornerstone Research overall takes an average of 17 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Cornerstone Research as a Associate according to 66 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 36%
Phone interview: 19%
Presentation: 11%
Skills test: 11%
Background check: 9%
Group panel interview: 8%
Other: 2%
IQ intelligence test: 2%
Personality test: 1%
Drug test: 1%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -