The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at HMSHost (Bethesda, MD) in Sep 2011
Interview
I was first called on the phone and asked to schedule an interview. I went in and spoke with four different interviewers, one at a time. They mentioned that they expected the entire interview process to take about a month and that there would be a second round of interviews before a candidate was chosen. My overall perception of the people was that they were professional and would be a good team to work with. I accepted another job a couple weeks after this interview and hadn't heard back from them at that time.
I would suggest that other candidates find out what area of their business the position is on the phone prior to the interview if it is not obvious from the job posting and then research that particular area of the business on their web site. It wasn't entirely clear what the job was buying but the posting said food industry and I was under the impression that it was for their consumable side but it ended up being for their apparel side.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
What do you think are the three most important strengths for this position?
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at HMSHost (Bethesda, MD) in Jun 2015
Interview
Met with a few buyers from different sections, they had a list of pre-printed questions, with spaces to write down answers. Many of the questions were rephrased versions of the same question.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How did you deal with a difficult situation at work?
Assistant Buyer applicants have rated the interview process at HMSHost with 3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 50% positive. To compare, the company-average is 58.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Assistant Buyer roles take an average of 19 days to get hired, when considering 2 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at HMSHost overall takes an average of 15 days.
Common stages of the interview process at HMSHost as a Assistant Buyer according to 2 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 50%
Group panel interview: 50%
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