I was first contacted by Wipro in April of 2009. I had three phone interviews. The first was by a recruiter, the 2nd by a senior technical person, the 3rd by the executive over the group. All three went well. This process took two months. In late June 2009, I checked in for status, and was told they would hire me if they won a deal with a client. I never heard back.
January 2010. I was contacted again by Wipro, being told that they now had a ton of business, and that they would hire me this time. The executive that interviewed me in 2009 had moved to another position, so I would need to speak with the person that took his place. Over the course of the next few weeks, I was scheduled to fly to Atlanta to be interviewed by the new executive. I was first told the interviews would be during one week, but after not hearing from Wipro for a couple of weeks, and with the planned interview week being the current week, I was not expecting it to happen, and it did not. I had to call Wipro to find out what was going on - they never proactively called me. The interview was rescheduled.
I was then sent an email telling me to arrange travel with the travel coordinator, who was copied on the email. I researched the flights I wanted, and sent an email to the travel coordinator. She replied to the recruiter, with a cc to me, asking the recruiter for permission to book my flight! A day later the recruiter responded with his approval, and the flight was booked. I emailed the travel coordinator asking about a hotel, and I never received a reply. A day later I forwarded the email to the recruiter, asking about why a hotel was not reserved. He replied that the travel group only does airfare, and that I would need to reserve my own hotel.
Day of interview. I was told to be at the Wipro office, where my panel interview would start at 9:00am. I arrived at 8:45am and went up to the appropriate floor. The receptionist had me wait for the recruiter. After 10 minutes, a recruiter showed up and took me to a small conference room. He explained that the recruiter with whom I had been corresponding with had been sick the day before, but he would be in soon. I was told that three people would be interviewing me at the same time. I was presented a sheet of paper that had four business scenarios on it. I was to pick one to solve. I would have 45 minutes to develop a solution, and then I would present my solution to the three people. The three would grill me for about 20 minutes. If I passed the grilling, then I would have a job.
I spent the next 45 minutes developing and refining my solution. I wrote up the key points on the white board, and I waited. At 9:45 the recruiter came back in and asked me if the three people had shown up. I said no. He asked if the 'original' recruiter had shown up. I said no. He said he would check on things and get back to me. Fifteen minutes later he comes back and tells me that it doesn't look like the other recruiter will show up for work that day - but he isn't sure. In regards to the interviewers, he doesn't know where they are - he is trying to track them down. He leaves once again, and about 10 minutes later comes back and tells me they are in a big meeting downstairs, and that they will come talk with me as soon as they can.
After waiting close to two hours, two of the three interviewers show up. They apologize for the schedule mix-up, and I start my presentation.
The twenty minutes of grilling that I was expecting turned into 1 and 1/2 hours. I was exhausted, but I 'm thinking I did fairly well. Just as they two guys were about to let me finish, the top executive walks in. I now have to recap everything for him. Another 30 minutes of being grilled by him goes by, and I am finally told OK, I can stop. I'm told they will now start the 'regular' interview.
I now get 30 minutes of the traditional questions of what are your strengths, weaknesses, etc. This seems to go well. At the end of 30 minutes, the executive stands up and says they have to leave and get back to their meeting. As they are leaving, one of the three whispers to me that it went very well, and that I can expect an offer within a couple of days. This was a Thursday.
By the next Wednesday, I had not heard anything. I sent an email on Thursday to the primary recruiter, asking for a status. On Friday, he called me and after some small talk, told me that they were not going to make me an offer. I expressed my dismay, after I felt and was told I did so well. He said that they went back and forth all week trying to decide, and finally determined that I was not a match for what they wanted. But perhaps there would be something in the future.
I was surprised to say the least. Given how I was treated overall (including the fact I have yet to be reimbursed for my expenses), it is probably a good thing I don't work for them.