Government IT Interviews May be Less Cut-Throat

If you’re a federal IT employee, or are looking for a federal IT job, chances are you may score an easier interview in government than you would at several of the top tech companies.

Nearly half of the companies on Glassdoor’s new list of the top 25 most difficult companies for job interviews are considered among the most desirable tech companies to work for. Google ranked 9th among the 25 most difficult companies to interview with, receiving a 3.5 out of 5 on a difficulty scale of 1 to 5.

Facebook and Amazon were not far behind Google, both receiving a difficulty score of 3.3 out 5.

Consulting firms were at the top of the list for having the most difficult interviews, with McKinsey & Company (3.9), the Boston Consulting Group (3.8) and Oliver Wyman (3.7) receiving the highest difficulty scores.

Scott Dobroski, a spokesman for Glassdoor, told Dice.com that many tech companies are moving quickly and need to find very skilled workers fast. He also said that tech companies ask candidates both IT and business role questions, so this often is what makes interviews for IT professionals more difficult.

For example, a candidate at Unisys was asked if “skill or will was more necessary” to get the job done, while a product manager at Google was asked how many hotels are in the United States. A systems administrator being interviewed at Rackspace had to come up with as many uses for brick as they could in one minute, Dice reports.

How would you rate the difficulty of your federal IT job interview?