The initial phone interview was very typical of other companies I have interviewed with. She asked the typical questions about experience and salary.
The first in-person interview was with the hiring manager, a senior team member, and the VP of development. Most of the interview was focused on work experience, technical skills, career plans, etc. The VP left, and I was taken through a SQL skills exercise in which I was given a few sample tables and queries, and they asked me to find errors, make suggestions to improve performance, and create new queries for different tasks, etc. This was all done verbally and at a white board. The main goal was to get a baseline for my SQL knowledge and problem solving process.
The second in-person interview was with the CEO, Greg Gilkerson. He explained that he still likes to interview all potential employees. This was unlike any corporate interview that I have ever experienced and it felt more like a conversation. His main objective was understanding who I was as a person and what my motivations were. We talked about family, life experiences, what drives me, etc.
Interestingly enough, after 3 months of working at PDI, this was the only conversation I had with Greg. My wife and kids came to the office unexpectedly. and I gave them a tour. I happened to walk by his office to introduce them to his secretary, but did not stop in to talk to him. As we were about to leave, he came out of his office, greeted my wife (and kids) by name, asked her questions about her job, etc. The fact that he remembered that level of detail about my family after only one conversation spoke volumes about how he is and what the company that he has built.
